Category Archives: Curriculum resources

Mathematics and science go hand in hand.

image Since I was young aspiring primary teacher I was surronded by science. My dad is a geologist and my mum is a nurse. Both of my parent had a true interest in either how the human body worked or why britain is shaped the way it is. So as a little girl i was always welcomed to ask questions and be inquisitive about the earth. It was only as I became older and shared my dads love of geology that i truely understood the realationship between mathmatics and science.

A patroleum geologist cannot predict where oil will be in settiling in a sedimentary rock hundreds of meter bellow sea level without doing many precise calculations. A pharmaceutical company cannot release a a new drug without vigorous messuring and data collection.

This alone shows the realationship between mathematics and science, in a primary school setting when teaching science it is incredibly important for th pupils to have an understanding of the mathematics involved within the science lesson.

An example of this would be during a lesson regarding the human body a measurement of height and hand span can be done. For this to be carried out accurately the pupils must be able to understand lenght and width, and be able to correctly measure using meassuring equipment.

I have found it very interesting whilst reflecting on a science or maths lecture and realising how relevent each subject is towards each other. As i have a true love of science it has helped my realationship with mathematics as I enjoy applying it to a subject I enjoy.

 

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Understanding the incomprehensible?

How do teachers create a lesson based upon the solar system and the planets positions when as an adult I cannot fully understand the true distance between planet earth and venus?

Its simple really!

As dicsussed in a previous post about my fear of mathematics I mentioned that it was very relevent to engage the learners from the beginning of a lesson, by making it relevent and relatable to their lives. So in regards to the solar system the concept of distance between planets can easily scaled down to a more digestable size.

 

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Here we have a football pitch which would be a create a great interactive lesson outdoors where every child could be alocated a planet. The pupils could all messure the distance between eachother to see the scaled version of distances between planets. This lesson would not only be releven but it would also be cross curricular and create links between mathematics and science. This lesson could also be recreated using a local map where the children can see exactly how far each planet is from each other in a relevent enviviroment. The options are endless just like the universe!