Math: Figuring it Out

There's something about the whiteboard, new dry erase markers, and a challenge that makes students excited about math.  Does having the space of a whole white board make them feel like a teacher?  Is it something tactile about the smooth sensation one gets while using the marker?  Or is it visually appealing to do math in pink or purple with big numbers?  Either way, the students at HRC love to be given math problems that they can solve on the whiteboard.

A few days ago, one of the students asked about a type of multiplication that we learned a while back called lattice multiplication.  He wanted to remember how to do it, so I had the students in this group see if they could recall the method while working in teams.  Lattice multiplication was a part of a series of "cultural multiplication" we studied, and has roots in Arab, Chinese, and Indian schools, dating as far back as the late 13th century.

All of the students eventually were able to figure out lattice multiplication-- some even challenged themselves to solve a 10-digit multiplication problem!

Below is a video by Khan Academy that explains the process:
Lattice Multiplication: Introduction to lattice multiplication

Studying the Master of Visual Art: Hokusai

As a part of our study of Japanese culture and history, we learned about artist Hokusai and dove in to his famous piece, "The Great Wave at Kanawaga"


With watercolor and pencil, the students created their own version of "The Great Wave."  We especially tried to emulate the detail of the curvy lines in the white caps of the wave, as well as the white spots of ocean spray. 

Hokusai created this piece between the years 1830 and 1833.  It was a part of a series of 46 studies of Mt. Fuji, which you can see in the background.  Imagine painting 46 pieces of art of the same scene in a short period of time! 

"At the age of five years I had the habit of sketching things. At the age of fifty I had produced a large number of pictures, but for all that, none of them had any merit until the age of seventy. At seventy-three finally I learned something about the true nature of things, birds, animals, insects, fish, the grasses and the trees. So at the age of eighty years I will have made some progress, at ninety I will have penetrated the deepest significance of things, at a hundred I will make real wonders and at a hundred and ten, every point, every line, will have a life of its own" - Hokusai