A reader who created this list sent it to me.<\/p>\n
\nIf math were taught the way religion is taught in many Catholic schools:<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\n
- How do you feel about numbers?<\/li>\n
- Meditate on your favorite number, then write a paragraph about why it is
\nyour favorite.<\/li>\n- Choose a song and identify some of the ways in which numbers are present
\nin it. Play the song for the class and lead a discussion about what the class
\nthinks the song expresses about numbers.<\/li>\n- Which number is most present to you in your life today? Which number is
\nmost absent?<\/li>\n- We’re going to watch a movie. At the end of the movie we’ll
\ndiscuss the ways in which numbers are explicitly and symbolically portrayed
\nin it.<\/li>\n- What can you do to be more aware of numbers in your everyday life?<\/li>\n
- What are your best and worst experiences involving numbers?<\/li>\n
- Make a poster in which you creatively and colorfully depict a number of
\nyour choice.<\/li>\n- Although some numbers are called “greater” and others are called
\n“lesser”, in what ways are all numbers really the same? In what
\nways can the “lesser” numbers be considered greater than the “greater”
\nnumbers, and in what ways can the “greater” numbers be considered
\nless than the “lesser” numbers?<\/li>\n- Even though irrational numbers cannot be expressed as the quotient of two
\nintegers the way rational numbers can, explain how irrational numbers should
\nbe respected and considered to be no different from rational numbers.<\/li>\n- Explain how the traditional classification of integers as either odd or
\neven is merely a social construct.<\/li>\n- Explain how every number has something good about it.<\/li>\n
- Do you accept the way that previous generations have used numbers? How
\ndo you think numbers should be used? Is there a right or a wrong way to use
\nnumbers? What do you consider to be the most personally meaningful way to
\nuse numbers?<\/li>\n- How has the way you use numbers changed throughout your life? How do you
\nthink you will use numbers in the future?<\/li>\n- Explain why a diversity of numbers is good and what you can do to promote
\nnumber diversity.<\/li>\n- Explain how multi-cultural approaches to numeral systems (e.g., Mesopotamian,
\nRoman, Arabic) can enrich our appreciation of numbers. Also explain why no
\nnumeral system is better than any other system.<\/li>\n- You will have to do a group project in which each person contributes a
\nnumber. Present to the class all the ways your group can relate the numbers
\nto each other. Your presentation can be a PowerPoint or a video in which you
\ncreatively animate the numbers your group selects.<\/li>\n- Write an essay in which you pretend that you are a number. Explain what
\nyou think it would be like to be that number.<\/li>\n- If you believe in your heart or in your conscience that 2+2=5, does anyone
\nelse have the right to tell you that you’re wrong? Explain why we should
\navoid judging other people’s mathematical operations.<\/li>\n- Fractions are divisive. Can you think of better ways to express a quotient,
\nwithout using divisive fractions? Is division something we should strive to
\ndo with numbers anyway?<\/li>\n- Explain why the labeling of numbers as either “positive” or
\n“negative” is discriminatory, hurtful, and a manifestation of
\nthe bigotry of value-ism. How would you feel if you were labeled a “negative”
\nnumber? What can you do to help end this kind of discrimination?<\/li>\n- Create a collage of numbers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
Pretty good list – though I would add:<\/p>\n
\n
- Make a felt banner showing what numbers mean to you.<\/li>\n
- Should fractions be written with one number over another one? Explain why
\nthis is an unjust hierarchical system where when the operation is carried
\nout it only diminishes the so-called numerator.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\nAnd added to one he sent me:<\/p>\n
\n
- Explain why the labeling of some numbers as “prime” is also
\ndiscriminatory and hurtful, and a manifestation of the bigotry of divisible-ism.
\nHow would you feel if you were labeled a “non-prime” or “divisible”
\nnumber? Does having factors really matter in the long run? After all There
\nis neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free man, there is neither
\nmale nor female; or prime and non-prime. If it isn’t divisive why does it
\nhave natural divisors?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n