Catch! Mathematics as a Lifeline
“A lifeline is a safety feature on a boat, a rope that either protects you from falling off or that you can throw to someone who's drowning. If you stumble off your friend's sailboat into the water, she'll throw you a lifeline.” Figuratively speaking, a lifeline is a “Support that enables people to survive or to continue doing something, often by providing an essential connection.” It is time we all grab hold of those liflines that exist. AND, more importantly, that we toss lifelines out to those in need. Definitions from: www.vocabulary.com
COVID-19 has rocked our planet and our way of life to our very core. Times are unsettled, and we are being asked to act and respond in unprecedented ways. There are great challenges ahead. This is no time to go it alone. We have to connect to one another. Before we talk about how mathematics serves as a lifeline, let’s for a moment talk about you. How are you? What lifelines are you clutching onto right now? Which lifelines have you extended to others? Are there any other lifelines out there waiting for you or are there other opportunities for you to be helpful? Take a moment to think specifically about this and maybe even write them down.
I am eternally grateful for my lifelines. Family. Friends. Nature. These are my three. And perhaps these are actually anchors. I am staying above water holding onto these for dear life. I am not going to lie. At least once a day, I start to go down, but then one line or the other pulls me back to the surface.
It turns out that these are two-way lifelines. Both ends of a lifeline support one another. I also realize I have an endless supply of lifelines that I can toss out there. I am not limited in how I can reach out to others. But, while I toss lines out there as I see a need, I keep checking my own lifelines, taking time to ground myself in the knowledge that they are there. I am not alone. THIS is temporary. Never have my human connections to others felt more important.
What does all this have to do with education? After all, you and I are connected to each other because of mathematics education.
As an educator, I would argue that we are the lifelines for our students. We are a daily constant in their lives for the 180 days that we are privileged to serve them. I know you are all missing your students and wondering how they are doing. I imagine many of you have found creative ways to use technology or other means to check in. You can rest assured that they also have their own set of lifelines that are there for them as their main anchors in life. It may be that they find peace in creating. Or reading. Or being outdoors. OR … in mathematics.
Mathematics is a lifeline. Mathematics can be a place of great peace. When we engage in problem solving, I mean REAL problem solving, time is actually suspended for a little while. We get lost in the moment while struggling and puzzling through. Our brain works on an entirely different frequency, and this can distract and distance us from our worries temporarily. I think we need this right now. I think we need opportunities to occupy our minds with mathematics much the same way we occupy our minds with a good book.
Let’s occupy our minds with some good math problems! This is a secondary lifeline I can toss your way. AND, the nice thing about life lines, is they can be tossed to someone else. You can grab hold and pass it on, and on, and on. So, here is my current thought. I will share some of my favorite math problems. Problems that fascinate me. Even though I’ve solved them before, I still find joy in revisiting them. You can try them. And then you can pass them along to those that need one more lifeline to keep them afloat.
I am sharing two problems that I love. The first one is the Dwarves and Hats problem. There are several versions of this floating around. I have to thank James Tanton for introducing me to this wonderful task. This is one you can definitely sink your teeth into. AND even after knowing the solution, there’s a lot more opportunity to play with the mathematics of it. Like changing the number of dwarves. Will this always work and why? I am sharing both a video and a printed write up of this problem.
The next task is called a Carroll Diagram, named after Lewis Carroll, author of Alice in Wonderland. It turns out, he was fascinated with logic puzzles and created quite a few of these. This link is from www.nrich.org and links to two examples of these logic puzzles.
Please be safe and be well. We truly are all in this together. While there is so much I don’t know right now, what I do know, is this is not going to be forever. This will end. And we will have a renewed appreciation for those lifelines. I am already planning one heck of a celebration for when this passes. I will never ever take anything for granted again. That is for sure.
Kindly,
Sue
PS Did you enjoy these puzzles? Let me know if you’d like me to keep these coming!