When presented with the idea of a language,
most people think of world languages such as English, Spanish, French,
and so forth. Mathematics, however, is a rich language used
to describe the world around us. Concepts and skills for number
sense can be found by simply looking around. To help your
students begin to embrace mathematics as a language, compile a collection
of no less than 5 pictures that can be described mathematically
using whole numbers, fractions, decimals, angles, ratios and proportions,
unknown quantities, and more. To locate great pictures, look
in magazines or on the Internet (or take your own photographs) and
then try to write your own description. Once you discover
the mathematical richness in the image, present it to your students
as an assignment and see how close they come to your description.
A follow-up discussion will help them see the image through your
eyes, and visual images are powerful mental reminders to solidify
math concepts and skills.
