Students’ bring valuable (mathematics) knowledge and resources from their out-of-school activities and practices that teachers can leverage to support mathematics learning in school. Also, knowledge and resources from other disciplines, such as science, technology, engineering, art (STEAM) or literacy, can also help teachers to support children’s mathematics learning.
This page provides activities developed for informal learning settings, such as family STEM nights, STEAM-literacy events, and afterschool programs. The activities are designed to draw upon knowledge, resources, practices, etc. from students’ local communities and STEAM to foster mathematics learning among elementary school students. The activities incorporate a range of big mathematical ideas, including geometric reasoning, number sense, proportional reasoning, algebraic reasoning, and concepts related to distance, times, and speed. You might use these activities as a starting point to host your own informal STEM event or adapt them for the traditional classroom setting. I hope this activities can help you better recognize ways that students see and use mathematics in the home and outside of school and in other disciplines.
solving world problems 