Where does math live at the beach?

What can you find at the beach? What patterns and shapes do you notice? What attributes can we use to order and compare our finds?

What questions emerge based on what you are noticing at the beach? What type of seastar is this? How long do seastars live? How do seastars grow? How wide do they grow? What conditions caused the sea stars to only be found in this area of the beach? What connections are you making?

Where does math live at the beach? We met at one of the entrances to Jericho Beach Park which lies on the traditional unceded territory of the Musqueam people. Educators from Campbell River, West Vancouver, Richmond, Coquitlam and Delta joined us. Dr. Bridgette Clarkston,, a good friend of Louesa's, joined us to share her depth of knowledge about seaweeds. We walked down to the beach, looking at this place through a mathematical lens and engaging in pedagogical provocations. The following pages share questions that emerged during our time at the beach - we hope they inspire your mathematical thinking.

What do you notice and wonder about seaweed? How is seaweed identified? How does it grow and reproduce?

How many different kinds of seaweed are there? We learned that there are three main groups of seaweeds - green, red and brown.

We had the honour of Dr. Bridgette Clarkston joining us at the beach and teaching us so much about seaweeds! 

Did you know...? Sea lettuce is the common name for the bright green seaweed that washes up on shore and is often an indicator of human activity in the water of that area. Seaweeds absorb nutrients through the water and live in the photic zone of the ocean - where sunlight reaches. Seaweeds form a fringe forest along the edges of the ocean. Seaweeds reproduce through releasing spores into the water. Almost all seaweeds are edible.

Other ideas for engaging in mathematics at the beach...

What shell holds the most water? How could you find out? How many shells full of water do you think it will take to fill a cup, graduated cylinder, etc? How can you use different tools or found materials to create land art, patterns or represent mathematical concepts in the sand? How high of a tower can you build by balancing rocks, shells, etc? What 3D shapes can use to build a sand structure? What do you need to pay attention to when sketching or painting the landscape or items from the beach?

Thank you for joining us on our mathematical gathering at the beach. We hope we have inspired you to see the world through a mathematical lens and to engage in mathematical experiences and thinking wherever you go!

How tall is the blue heron? How long is one step for a heron? How long does it wait for its food? What other birds live near the beach?

What attributes of living things help us to identify them? What information can we find in field guides? What types of measurements are included?

How do these items belong together? How are they each unique?

WODB is a mathematical routine focused on reasoning, analysis and communicating mathematically. Which One Doesn&apos;t Belong? has students explain and justify a reason for each item &quot;not belonging&quot; to the set of related items. This routine can be used across curriculum areas.

How can we measure tracks? What stories do tracks tell? How do tracks tell us about what species they are from? How do tracks tell us about how the animal was moving? How are tracks different in wet and dry sand?

What do we notice when we look closely? What details and attributes do we notice? How do attributes - size, shape, pattern, colour - help us to identify items we find at the beach?

What tools can help us to look closely? How does a change in scale or perspective help us see things differently?

About how many mussels are living on this rock? About how much of the rock is covered with mussels? barnacles? What referent could you use to help you with your estimate?

How might you map the landscape of the beach? How does mapping help you think about size, scale and distance? What shapes do you notice? What do you need to think about when creating 2D or 3D maps?

Lauren mapped the mountains in the distance by using sand pails to create cylinders and then used tools to carve away sand to create the shapes she was noticing.

What are tides and how are they measured? How can we visually measure the changing tide? What referents can we use?

Facilitated by Lauren MacLean, Louesa Byrne and Janice Novakowski with special guest Dr. Bridgette Clarkston Resource co-constructed in situ with educators attending the summer institute June 2017

Ways to use this book -spend time with the images: what do you notice? what do you wonder? -after looking at an image, turn to the next page to see how we were inspired mathematically -make connections to your own local environment -please use this book to inspire a mathematical walk outdoors or to create your own book!

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