中文
HOME
HOME / LATEST NEWS / Content

Middle and Primary School Math Department: G7 Project “Discover the Math in Daily Life”

December 8, 2021

Math is present everywhere in our lives—from a small blossom or leaf to the vast skies and deep oceans. Math is not just about boring and confusing equations, but it is every smallest part of our daily lives. Over the past few weeks, 7th-grade students have been working hard on their math projects, carefully observing the world around them and discovering the fun of math.

In Part I, students need to observe the floras and faunas they see every day and identify the Fibonacci sequence spiral in those objects. At the same time, the students also need to use the given patterns and data to complete the following questions, making sure that they have grasped the knowledge tightly. The most common Fibonacci sequence spiral is hidden in the numerous flowers seen daily. From the number of petals to the layers of petals, students can trace a spiral around the contour of the flower. Change the direction of the spiral in numbers, and that is the Fibonacci Sequence.

In Part II, students got an idea of the Golden Ratio. From Ancient Greece and Egypt, to present philosophers and politicians, even the members of a famous idol group, all of their faces hold a diverse range of math knowledge. Using the given pictures, students used the measurements of the people’s facial features, chin, forehead, etc. to calculate their facial ratios and compared the numbers with the ratio most people believe is the most beautiful—the Golden Ratio (~1.618). Students also got a chance to choose their favorite person to measure—for example, idols, movie characters, historical figures, etc. Throughout the process, students slowly sought their interest in math, as they constantly made discoveries.

In the last part, Part III, students summarized and concluded the knowledge they had learned in the previous sections. In the form of a poster and presentation, students shared the math in their own lives, recording each bit of the world around them. With help of the teachers’ guidance, students looked back on the entire project’s process and reflected on places of improvement and places worth of praise.

This math project portrayed the diversity of math, not only testing the students’ ability to become independent learners but also actively leading students to observe the countless places in daily life where math knowledge is hidden, inspiring students’ interest and ambition in discovering the true beauty of mathematics.

(Written by Teresa 7(1) Supervised by Wei Xu Pictures by Wei Xu Edited by Huang Shiyuan, Brie Polette)