green mathematics

Green mathematics implies leaving the classroom,
playing outdoors, and using hands and feet, 
rather than the brain.

Akelius Math AB

The producers are challenged to find visualization of counting, that a child will understand.

example square root for a small child

A typical classroom problem is

Are Greek letters important for calculations?

Is a special sign for square root needed?

What kind of a root is squared?

The point is not to teach Greek letters, strange names, special signs, but to find the length of a square side.

Change the word root to the side,
and visualize.

Put sixteen wooden blocks in a pile.

Ask a student to build a square with all sides of the same length.

A square has an area of sixteen wooden blocks.
How many wooden blocks are on one side?

Repeat with nine, four, and 25 blocks.

Try twenty blocks.

The student finds that the square root is more than four, but less than five.

mean value, median, mode value, range

Can a small child learn statistics?

Most adults will be disturbed when asked to calculate the mean value of the set
1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6.

Place wooden cubes in seven piles in seven heaps,
or chocolate pralines, or something else.
1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 5, 6

Ask the child

Which pile is in the middle?
Three piles to the left side, three piles to the right side. The middle pile, a two, is called the median.

How to share equally?

How many wooden blocks will there be if you move the wooden blocks so that all have the same height?

The average value is three.