SOIT combines Math and Weaving

At SOIT, Art Teacher Marilyn Simon and her students spent part of December making gorgeous weavings.  This tactile and enjoyable project asks art students to consider math concepts such as spacing, pattern, proportion, shape, and numerals.  She was inspired by Mr. Patrick Honner, a high school math teacher at Brooklyn Tech, in New York City, who synthesizes mathematics and art in his teaching, learning, and personal interests, including weaving.

 

"[Honner] makes creation, including artistic creation, a focus of his mathematics teaching, and helps students see mathematics as a lens to understand and appreciate the world. Patrick has exhibited his work in a variety of juried exhibitions, and makes creating mathematical art an integral component of the student experience in his classroom." Honner has a TEDx that talks about these ideas. (Click below to see this TEDx.)

He has been recognized for excellence in teaching mathematics both nationally and internationally. In the SOIT weaving lesson, Ms Simon explained that color has a value and depends on quantity.  "Color, is also dependent on what is adjacent to it, like numerals on a number line," Ms. Simon explained

SOIT Students could pick from a wide variety of yarns, both in terms of 

width, texture and color.

Students could also pick their pattern choices, and they sought to explain their pattern choices to each other in mathematical terms as part of this lesson.

  

A wide and wonderful assortment of weaving patterns and subsequent weavings have emerged as a result of this intriguing exploration of math using an art/craft form. Now, SOIT students are excited to bring their weavings home for the holidays!