It has become increasingly apparent over the past few weeks that science has many links to maths. We have recently had a workshops with Neil Taylor.
First we were asked to come up with as many reasons as possible about why maths is important to science. our group did quite well, coming up with; measurement, data, statistics, temperature and scales.
We then plotted the following graphs:
y=x
y=x^2
y=1/x
y=1/x^2
The most enjoyable part of the workshop was measuring magnetic force against distance with magnets. We had our experiment set up like the picture below. The magnets were set 15 cm apart and the scales were set to zero. We used the ruler to reduce the gap 1cm at a time until the gap was 2cm. At each cm reduction we recorded the force. We plotted a graph using the data of the force against distance and found that looked most like the graph y=1/x^2.
This is an experiment that can be easily carried out by the children in the classroom which I think they would thoroughly enjoy. The children will be able to make clear links between the links that science has to maths by doing this. The children will have to use key maths concepts such as:
- Collecting data
- Choosing how to present data
- Drawing charts and graphs
By the end of the workshop the use of maths was much more evident.
In science everything is measured, time, speed, volume, capacity, density and these are only a few.
Science is the study of how the universe – and the things that exist in this universe – work. The language that is used in science is maths.
Math can help us understand what scientists discover and helps find relationships between an experiment’s hypothesis and the data that is collected.
By using statistics, scientists can use data as evidence to support or disagree with their theories. Without the use math it would be impossible to prove these theories.
Maths is used to accurately determine calculations or scientific principles.
References
http://www.kumon.com/resources/how-science-and-math-are-related/
