Spiral Science & Math Manipulative

Fibonacci numbers are practically unheard of outside of math circles, and yet the math, science, and even art concepts that tie into them are many. Spiral Science & Math Manipulative is an elegant and inexpensive way to extensively explore these relationships.

Ds#1 and I have been trying out the many acitivities available at the web site. Middle school or above students with a good understanding of fractions, decimals, and percentages will get the most out of this neat kit, though upper elementary kids can use it for simpler activities. Ds#1 does not have that much math under his belt, but enjoyed the activity on hand bone ratios nonetheless. He was able to figure out the pattern of the Fibonacci sequence after a bit of thought--and that made it all the more wonderful for him.

The 13x21 cm kit consists of 7 magnetic sheets that have numbers and a spiral-forming curve on one side and examples of spirals in nature on the other, a magnetic sheet to work on, and a thick vinyl pouch to keep it in. The Teacher's Guide is included, containing six lessons, and the web site has another 8 activities all aligned to national standards (if you keep track of them.) You can also buy class packs for your co-op, but these are significantly more expensive.

Some of the vocabulary and concepts you will explore with this kit include logarithmic (Archimedes) spiral, tessellations, ratio, proportion, golden mean, interval scale, X and Y axis, controls and variables, histogram, average, and more. With a cost of less than $15, this kit certainly offers a lot of science and math exploration for the dollar.

Electronic well-wishes

One line of science kits that lasts a long time and can be used by a wide variety of ages is Snap Circuits. We bought our kit a couple of years ago and the kids still play with it all the time.

All the parts are mounted on plastic bases that simply snap together to form a circuit. The one pictured is the mid-priced 300 part set; they also make 100 and 500 part kits. Even when Ds#3 was only 4 years old he was snapping these together and making circuits.

And on birthdays Ds#2 likes to put this together:

Dissection for Co-op and zeroBio

I am teaching a dissection class during our short 6-week winter session for our homeschool co-op. The class is for 9 and up and I had a whopping 9 students sign up, ages 9 to 14.

Home Science Tools offers complete kits for a class like this. We decided to use the Intermediate Kit with seven specimens, pictured here.

The dissection guides will lead even the most novice of students through the process, including small black-and-white photos of the anatomy. I am there to clarify things, help with technique, put each specimen into a classification perspective, and often giving comparisons to human anatomy.

Our kits had not arrived in time for our first class, so I took the time to go over the tools in a dissection kit (my own.) Next I did a quick search for dissection videos and came across zeroBio, a great interactive site with some dissection videos and a lot of other resources.

My students really liked the videos and they prepared them for what was to come. This week they all enthusiastically dissected their earthworms and are looking forward to next week. They're a great bunch!

Science Kits

I like to keep science kits around. My kids always enjoy the thrill of opening and using them. I like having something complete to pull out when I've had too busy of a week to plan a project. My remind my relatives that they can browse Home Science Tools around holiday or birthday times if they don't know what to get for the kids.

I often find kits for a decent price at discount resellers like T.J. Maxx or Marshall's, and warehouse stores like Costco or BJ's Wholesale Club. These are hit or miss, but usually the hits are pretty good. I am already looking, buying, and putting away for Christmas.

This photo shows ds#2 with a Sensory Dome he got for his birthday, which is a terrarium with plants that appeal to the various senses. The boys had a great time putting this together, and ds#2 in particular took keen interest in reading about the plant information on the planting tags.

More About the Golden Ratio: Zomes

The folks at Zometool have created a very sophisticated "toy" using Φ. Vaguely reminiscent of Tinker Toys, it is far more elegant and mathematically designed.

Basically, it consists of struts and nodes. In a basic set, the struts are blue rectangles (representing 2,) yellow triangles (representing 3), and red pentagons (representing 5.) 2, 3, and 5 are part of the Fibonacci sequence.

Each strut comes in 3 sizes--small, medium, and long--and guess what the ratio is among them? That's right, Φ. You can easily build golden rectangles with them like those overlaying the chameleon's tail in the previous post.

The struts connect to the nodes. These are white with carefully placed rectangular, triangular, and pentagonal holes such that structures can be built that demonstrate mathematical and geometric principles. That is what you see in the Zome logo.

They also have green line struts, which are advanced pentagon struts that have angled ends, that can build additional geometric structures. Here's the strut catalogue:

Fibonacci numbers and the golden ratio are abundant in nature. In fact, I noticed the ratio while admiring a dragonfly. I went to work and eventually built one out of Zomes.

I actually needed a few extra small struts--these, too, maintain the golden ratio in relation to the other struts. I didn't have enough struts to make the second wing.

The website and kits have a wide range of geometric models, from simple Platonic solids to a complex taurus (doughnut) and even a large DNA model. You can download a set of challenge cards, or lesson plans for grades 1 through 12.

This makes a great math and science manipulative especially if your kids like to build like my boys do. Their imaginations are their guides!