MathFinder Learning Kit for Instructors
Each video
- Is approximately 3 minutes long
- Is inquiry-based and is centered around a single key question
- Shows real-world, place-based learning of math or STEM
- Features the built environment, the living environment or fine arts
- Is produced by STEM educational experts (and in a few cases by students and faculty in our growing community of MathFinders and STEM walkers)
Materials Needed
- Device to view our open-access video library
- Paper
- Pencils/Markers
- Chart paper
- Device with camera capabilities (optional)
Educator Reference Material
Take a quick walk through some of the broad math themes used in the math walks we produced:
- Math Patterns at Dallas Zoo
- Math Patterns at Dallas Museum of Art (coming soon)
- Geometry at Frontiers of Flight Museum
- Geometry at Twelve Hills Nature Center
- Scale, Proportion, and Quantity at St Philip’s School and Community Center
- Scale, Proportion, and Quantity at Voice of Hope Ministry
Note: Use the resources provided flexibly and in developmentally appropriate ways that best fit your students.
View Educator Reference Material
See MathFinder Learning Kit for Instructors (Grade 4 and Up)
What is MathFinder?
Integrate math everywhere you go and make the experience of math a joyful one! Take a math walk in the playground, park, library, or absolutely anywhere. Math walks help engage students in everyday math topics that connect to their lived experiences and also align to math standards. Click here to learn more about the walkSTEM initiative that was launched by talkSTEM nonprofit in 2017 and that the MathFinder project is grounded in. Watch the MathFinder podcast where you can meet the leaders from the organizations we partner with and hear directly from them. Sign up to join the MathFinder and talkSTEM communities. Here are some important aspects of the MathFinder Project that make it a flexible, easy, and fun resource for all instructors to use.
Why is MathFinder a Fun and Flexible Resource?
Our freely available resources include an open-access video library with 250+ short videos featuring math walks and STEM walks.
- All videos are aligned to the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKs)
- You can find videos to watch based upon student interest in under a minute
- Fun exploration for kids, no need for lengthy previews by instructors
- Video library is easily searchable using such filters as:
- Kind of Place (eg playground or park)
- Specific Place (eg Dallas Zoo or Twelve Hills Nature Center)
- TEKS (Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills)
- Math Topic (eg ratios or estimation)
- Other Themes (eg Science)
- Create Your Own Math Walk guide – this is how we create our math walks and we invite all educators to use our methods on their own campuses and elsewhere. Create your own Math Walk suited for the children you are working with.
Procedure and Facilitation Points
- Introduce students to Mathfinder. Watch the “What’s My Question” video with students. Watch the first, introduction video in this series of 4 videos.
- After the video, ask students to brainstorm locations around them that they know and that they think would make for a fun math walk stop. Facilitate a group discussion and create a chart of ideas.
Now that you know the basics of what a math walk is, pick any of the activity options below to experience a walk for yourself!
Contact us and we are pleased to provide a complimentary copy of this beautifully illustrated picture book together with the Shapefinder and Angle-a-tron tools.
View our Shapefinder and Angle-a-tron videos, and print them out on acetate here and here. Use one or both of these walkSTEM explorer tools with your students as they explore books, the room you are in, and beyond in scaffolded ways so that they gain gradual experience. You can introduce students at a young age to just the concept of an angle (the space between two lines that meet) and they can hunt for just right angles and straight lines, for example, in books and in their environment without getting into any other details about angles. They can use their elbows to demo a straight line and a right angle and use the angle-a-tron to “measure.” Get creative and think of fun ways to make these tools fun, engaging, and impactful!
Note: For younger students, make sure that the “Elementary School Ages” filter has been checked to ensure that the content you’re browsing isn’t too advanced. You can also select a specific place such as the Dallas Zoo, a type of place such as shopping mall or park, or you can filter to find a group of videos on a particular concept such as area and perimeter.
- You can go on a short Virtual Math or STEM walk in the classroom by watching one or two short videos of your choice or your students’ choice. Use the filters on the web page to select videos to view. Each video is 2-3 minutes long and feel free to use the pause button as you watch to discuss the power of: observation, asking questions, and question response strategy.
- Discuss the contents of the video with your students, encouraging them to expand what they consider the be math – highlight topics like patterns, shapes, and counting for a natural start!
- Encourage students to ask questions of their own! For a quick technique to spot math all around, view our Shapefinder and Angle-a-tron videos, and print them out on acetate here and here.
- Repeat these steps for the rest of the chosen video series, or as many other videos as desired!
You can do this after watching a video, as an add-on to another activity you’re doing in camp, or in your free time – don’t feel stuck with using a particular format, go with what feels natural to you!
- Using this document as a guide, work with your students’ input, incorporating their ideas, suggestions, and voices wherever possible! You can create a math walk of your own and then take the students on a live walk on your campus.
- You can decide on how you want to share your math walk design.
- Options for products:
- Create a video Math Walk Stop using video
- Create an audio recording
- Live, guided math walk
- Options for products:
Our Partner Sites Across Dallas
- Dallas Arts District
- Dallas Arboretum and Botanical Gardens
- Dallas City Hall Plaza
- Dallas Love Field Airport
- Fair Park
- Frontiers of Flight Museum
- Girl Scouts STEM Center for Excellence at Camp
- J. Erik Jonsson Central Library
- Whispering Cedars
- Klyde Warren Park*
- NorthPark Center
- RedBird Mall
- Ronald Kirk Bridge
- SMU Campus
- Starbucks Community Café
- St. Philip’s School and Community Center
- West End Historical District
- HALL Arts*
- The Lamplighter School*
- Katherine Johnson Technology Magnet Academy*
- Lady Bird Johnson Middle School*
- Cedar Hill ISD*
- Greenhill School
- Lancaster Community Park*
- Grand Prairie ISD*
- Twelve Hills Nature Center
- Dallas Museum of Art
- Dallas Zoo
- Voice of Hope Ministries
If you’re planning a field trip, you might be able to add on a math walk experience! For details on how to access walkSTEM content at any of these locations, visit our How to walkSTEM page. You can preview these math walk stops and adapt to your students age, as needed. Also, you can create a math walk experience for any place you go with them and make connections to age-appropriate questions about scale, proportion, and quantity; math patterns; shapes. Remember – the real world is rich with opportunity to utilize each of our math lens and we want your students to develop their own math lens. Invite them to share their questions about what they see!
* This math walk has audio guide only available on the Otocast app. All others are available using both audio and video guides. For school campuses and museums and zoos, field trip arrangements and fees would need to be arranged by your group.
Learn More about MathFinder
Click here to learn more about the walkSTEM initiative that was launched by talkSTEM nonprofit in 2017 and that the MathFinder project is grounded in. Watch the MathFinder podcast where you can meet the leaders from these organizations and hear directly from them. Sign up to join the MathFinder and talkSTEM communities.
Educator Reference Material
Take a quick walk through some of the broad math themes used in the math walks we produced. These slide decks were used in our work with partner sites involved in the MathFinder project:
- Math Patterns at Dallas Zoo
- Math Patterns at Dallas Museum of Art (coming soon)
- Geometry at Frontiers of Flight Museum
- Geometry at Twelve Hills Nature Center
- Scale, Proportion, and Quantity at St Philip’s School and Community Center
- Scale, Proportion, and Quantity at Voice of Hope Ministry
Feedback
Grades 4-8 instructors using MathFinder Learning Kit for Instructors: Complete this form so that we can benefit from your feedback.
Grades preK-3 instructors using MathFinder Learning Kit for Instructors: Complete this form so that we can benefit from your feedback.
We’d love to hear from you! If you have questions, comments, or potential collaborations, reach out to us at mathfinderaisl@gmail.com.