A Year in the Life: Ambient Math Wins the Race to the Top!
For one year, 365 days, this blog will address the Common Core Standards from the perspective of creating an alternate, ambient learning environment for math. Ambient is defined as “existing or present on all sides, an all-encompassing atmosphere.”
And ambient music is defined as: “Quiet and relaxing with melodies that repeat many times.” Why ambient? A math teaching style that’s whole and all encompassing, with themes that repeat many times through the years, is most likely to be effective and successful.
Both the Waldorf and Math By Hand curriculums begin form drawing at the very beginning, by focusing on it in the first Grade 1 main lesson block. Each week thereafter begins with a Monday form drawing main lesson. Form drawing is primarily just that: formative, so its beneficial qualities and effects translate to all other subjects and lessons. Here are excerpts from the Math By Hand Form Drawing book.
Form drawing promotes an awareness of archetypal forms while enhancing eye-hand coordination and creativity. Forms are first introduced through images and stories, translated to movement, traced in the air, and finally drawn on paper. The story or image provides a picture of the form, thereby making it more accessible. Using large motor movements to introduce new concepts incorporates a spatial orientation that effectively transitions to working with fine motor skills later on.
The simpler forms can be run very large, on the floor or ground, indoors or out. The more complex forms worked with in Grades 3 and 4 tend to go beyond verbal description or a translation into movement, and so need to be presented differently. Many forms can be contained within a circle or other visual parameters, which can be drawn on the floor or the pavement with chalk. Running the forms is an effective technique, and is also helpful with letter and number formation. For the mirrored/symmetrical forms, the teacher moves the form on one side while the student watches, mirroring the movement on the other side.
The beginning drawings in Grade 1 illustrate the idea that all things are made up of straight or curved lines or some combination of the two. Vertical symmetrical or mirrored forms are drawn on one side, and mirrored on the other. They improve balance, spatial orientation, and eye-hand coordination, while forms with invisible lines help develop control and mastery, along with fluidity and flexibility. The horizontal sequencing forms that contain repeating or contrasting elements sharpen and develop visual judgment and acuity.
In Grade 2, mirrored or symmetrical forms become horizontal and more complex, increasing fluidity and accuracy. Variations on straight and curved lines follow; transformative forms are drawn side by side on the page. Freehand geometric forms are introduced, with many variations, and continue to be a focus until formal geometry with instruments in Grade 6. The spiral is a recurring theme, later appearing in many different areas like life science, astronomy, and geometry.
Knowledge ensues in an environment dedicated to imaginative, creative knowing, where student and teacher alike surrender to the ensuing of knowledge as a worthy goal. Tune in tomorrow for more on form drawing in Waldorf and Math By Hand.