Resources by Discipline
MATHEMATICS
Mathematics is often excluded from discussions of using popular culture in the classroom. However there is a wealth of resources out there that not only provide examples of mathematics in popular culture (which could be shown in class and used as a discussion platform) but also many resources for specific ways to incorporate popular culture in the mathematics classroom. In addition to using popular culture to teach and spark interest in the actual curriculum content of mathematics, popular culture would be a great way to invite students to think about what the nature of mathematics. A lot of research in the field has been done concerning the role of beliefs about mathematics in the classroom; certainly it would be beneficial to get students to analyze their own beliefs and look with a critical eye at some of the stuff out there. In a algorithm-driven test-heavy society, we need help getting the students to understand that math is so much more than just numbers.
WEBSITES: MATHEMATICS IN VARIOUS MEDIA
WEBSITES: CURRICULUM AND LESSON PLANS
BOOKS (mathematics as popular culture)
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• Sir Cumference books
• Lasky, Katherine, The Librarian who Measured the Earth
• Scieszka, Jon, The Math Curse
• Tang, Gregory, The Grapes of Math
ARTICLES about teaching with Popular Culture and Media in the Math Classroom
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BOOKS about teaching with Popular Culture and Media in the Math Classroom
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• Appelbaum, Peter. 1995. Popular culture, educational discourse, and mathematics. Albany NY: State University of New York Press.
RADIO/PODCASTS
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ONLINE VIDEO, SHORT FILMS & MOVIE CLIPS
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- "Mathematics, an Inconvenient Truth" What are this woman's beliefs about Mathematics? Do you agree or disagree? (This could also be a great prompt to invite students to create a video response and post it on youtube, thus encouraging students to participate in this ongoing dialogue.)
- Tom Lehrer singing, "New Math" What are the singer's beliefs about Mathematics, and specifically how Mathematics should be taught? What lines from the song reveal his beliefs?
- "The Ride" A good, interesting source with good potentials for interesting calculations. Consider, for example, unit conversions.
- How Stuff Works Video Channel
EXAMPLES OF STUDENT-PRODUCED RELEVANT WORK
• "I Know All About Math"
• "Math Rules" Some parts are pretty cheesy and not useful in the classroom, but this might be a good source to show students examples of how they might use mathematics in a pop culture related project.
Comments (1)
Dionne Huang said
at 5:00 am on Apr 26, 2008
Honestly, I never knew that there was so much interesting stuff about Math! Wow.
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