The BIG List of MathArt
Project & Activity Ideas
Project & Activity Ideas
This is a page with ideas for student projects and activities for potential MathArt live online class presentations. This is one of many pages on the MathArt website where students can come to get project and activity ideas. This is also the place where if families have additional ideas to share with the class, that I can add them to the growing list as well. I hope you enjoy the activities and please let me know if there are MathArt related areas that you would like to see added to the list by emailing me at [email protected]. Enjoy!
IMPORTANT NOTE: I’m asking parents to please have your learner use spell check and to proofread their content before it's shared on your media of choice with the live or self-paced class experience. Thank you so much!
Example of a NeS MathArt student project
This remarkable dried bean mosaic was made by my student Magdalena during the opening year of my in-person homeschool nature-based program, HASC (Heathcote Art & Science Center) in 2010. I love the concentric rings she created with the different beans around the acorn giving it a splattered appearance. The ovoid shape of the beans, colors and the lovely pattern found on pinto beans give this mosaic a unique mathematical finish! Thank you for sharing all your wonderful artwork with us, Magdalena! This is the type of MathArt project students can do in my courses.
MathArt Class Materials
1. 3-ring binder with side pockets for storing projects and printed resource materials
2. Field journal for recording research and notes
3. Small video camera (suggested)
4. Camera (suggested)
Instructor's Note
The purpose of the MathArt courses is to learn more about mathematics, first with an overview of mathematics history and then a focus on geometric patterns found in nature, and how nature's patterns and geometry connect with art (including architecture, drawing, painting, photography and more), and science.
Why Study Math's History?
Studying math history will lay a strong foundation for our study in MathArt. It is enlightening to learn about mathematics origins with humanity and watch how the field of maths emerged from different time periods and from within different cultures. We start with the ancient history of math and work our way through the math timeline using various media such as PowerPoints, videos, study guides all with complimentary projects and activity offerings from this website to enhance learning. Each class will also include time for student presenations and blogging on student class blogs.
Student Projects & Presentations
Any projects students choose to do, can be recorded in a digital format to be shared in the virtual classroom. You can upload photographs on your chosen online service (blog or family website of choice), links to your homemade You Tube videos, reports and PowerPoints .
Project and Activity Ideas
- Make a display of spiral specimens found in nature such as pinecones, pineapples and seashells, which illustrate the Fibonacci number series. Detailed descriptions and explanations can be included.
- Make seashell art designs. You could make a picture frame with seashells. Describe the shell’s geometric properties.
- Use Storyjumper to make an online story book about your favorite MathArt topic.
- Make a display of different circular specimens in nature, SCOCS (spirals, curves, ovals, circles and spheres).
- Construct spider webs using tree branches and string.
- Spore prints and spider’s webs - Preserve real mushroom spore prints and or spider webs using this resource link: http://www.hometrainingtools.com/spiders-and-spores/a/1514/
- Collect data from a video or audio recording of crickets chirping at different temperatures. Graph and display the results. Keep a 2-week log of evening temperatures based on the frequency of the crickets chirping.
- Plot the migration routes of the monarch butterfly on a map of North America or other migrating butterfly in any part of the world, and describe the routes using vectors.
- Analyze the fingerprints of your friends and family and graph the frequencies of different patterns such as loops and whirls.
- Draw detailed drawings of monocots and dicots and display dissected and preserved specimens of both flower types. Label with related geometric and numeric descriptions.
- Art Project: Choose an inspiring "Golden" pattern from nature such as the spiral pattern in a Nautilus Shell and create an original design. Create an original work of art using the Golden Mean to create the composition. Look at the pattern of a butterfly wing, sea creatures…Close ups of patterns from nature in your backyard such as Leaf arrangements, leaf veins, petal patterns. Check out Feather patterns from birds such as one feather, or the entire tail pattern of a peacock. Look at animals, bugs, fish, and plants to get ideas. Use your favorite artistic expression. Ideas include painting (water color, acryllic), making a paper mosaic, a collage of photographs, clay models, drawings on a poster, computer graphics or your own ideas. Try to follow these guidelines: create your own original design, use the Golden Mean or mathematical measurement for design (look through website resources given on this website keeping to the golden mean mathematical ratios. Lastly, use a pattern found in nature to inspire the design.
Hexagon Resources including snowflakes, honeycombs and constructions
- Here is one of the web’s greatest websites about snowflakes, how they are made, mathematics about them and beautiful photography of real snow crystals: http://www.its.caltech.edu/~atomic/snowcrystals/
- Designed Snowflakes, using black poster board and white yarn. Here’s a site for designing realistic snowflakes: http://www.marcels-kid-crafts.com/snowflake-pattern.html
- Draw a honeycomb, illustrating the geometric patterns found inside a beehive. You can add details such as bee larvae and the adult bees. You can view the You Tube tutorial below for drawing hexagons:
- A teacher’s tutorial instructing on how to make a hexagon with pencil and compass: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFd8J9NVfFg&feature=related
- Map the migration routes of whales, estimate miles traveled and describe patterns.
- Construct a mobile, with each piece being a cutout of different whales, illustrating the fluke pattern that is used for identification.
- Construct paper Mache scale models of the planets and then hang them from the ceiling, again using scaling to illustrate their distances from the sun and from each other.
- Construct detailed drawings of bee dances. Include detailed explanations of the dance patterns and how its mathematical connections.
More Online Resources
Here are some online resources for your convenience. Please look at these resources to get more project ideas.
- Ron Knott’s Fibonacci number series site: http://www.maths.surrey.ac.uk/hosted-sites/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibnat.html
- Exploring Fractals - http://www.math.umass.edu/~mconnors/fractal/fractal.html
- Making a Koch fractal flower - http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/frac/koch.html
- How to Architect – You Tube Video series about how to be an architect (this is an entire You Tube Channel with wonderful tutorials for architecture) http://www.youtube.com/user/howtoarchitect#p/u/83/2Hw12xW5ZZ8
- Finding Fibonacci Numbers in Plants http://www.exo.net/~pauld/activities/mathematics/findingfibonaccinumbers.html
- Spirals on Pinecones and Pineapples - How do pinecone and pineapple spirals relate to the Fibonacci number series? Find out with this easy activity: http://www.concord.org/resources/netadventure/pinecone.htm
- Ancient Greek Geometry - http://mathforum.org/cgraph/history/greekgeometry.html
- Mrs. Brown's Art Class - A compendium of art projects
- Cut-the-knot.org - Cool math puzzles
Geometry Patterns PDF Book
Geometry Patterns by Frank Tapson - http://www.cleavebooks.co.uk/trol/trolna.pdf
Virtually Montesorri - Create A Geometry Star (free download)
Virtually Montesorri - Create A Geometry Star (free download)
Pysanky Activity Resources
What is Paysanky?
Pysanky is an ancient Eastern European art of egg decorating. The Ukrainian style is one of the most famous. The word Pysanky comes from the verb to write, as you use a stylus (called a kistka) to write with wax on the egg shell.
Pysanky is an ancient Eastern European art of egg decorating. The Ukrainian style is one of the most famous. The word Pysanky comes from the verb to write, as you use a stylus (called a kistka) to write with wax on the egg shell.
Free Pysanky Designs - Some students may choose to do the designs in their MathArt journal and not on eggs. The choice is yours. Enjoy!