Featured Article Teaching Math With a Historical Twist

TEACHING MATH WITH A HISTORICAL TWIST MATH WITH MORTIMER

At Allison Woods, located in Statesville, N.C., the site of the Carolina Region’s home range, students of all ages learn about kinetic and potential energy, forces and motion, properties of matter, and math by participating in a program with a twist conducted by Allison Woods Outdoor Learning Center! Known for continually thinking outside the box, Allison Woods Outdoor Learning Center’s staff and volunteers created a popular program entitled Math with Mortimer. The program uses firing an N-SSA approved mortar to instruct kids about diverse topics covering their essential standards in science. The staff and volunteers give students a lesson in history and modern mathematics they will never forget. While preparing the kids for the upcoming program Dennis Goodin, Animal Education Director, and Veteran Skirmisher, gets the kids excited by giving a mini history lesson behind the projectile and the mortar. After Dennis’ lesson, he, and the other instructors, including Executive Director and Veteran Skirmisher, Selena Goodin, Allison Woods OLC Education Director, Karen Morris and Veteran Skirmisher and volunteer, Rex Cockerham, present the lesson from the scientific perspective. Allison Woods Outdoor Learning Center will normally have 200-400 students, ranging in age from Pre-K to Graduate School, pass through the front gate each week. There they transported into the beauty of nature where environmental education programs are taught. During their visit, students are allotted three 45-minute programs varying in topics. The assembly program, such as Math with Mortimer is held at the airstrip where students are safely positioned behind the instructors to ensure that all safety measures are followed. Included in Dennis’ mini lesson he covers the history of the technology he is using. He states that the main use for mortars being used was to lob projectiles over walls to attack the enemy on the other side. Dennis uses the National Anthem “…the bombs busting in air…” to give students a mini lesson on the National Anthem in relation to the mortar, sometimes the kids will sing along. Dennis explains that the Mortar was used as a siege gun to shoot over fortifications and that the projectile would explode in the air to send shrapnel raining down onto the enemy. It is amazing that most students and many times parents and teachers do not understand the impact that the mortar had in the war, and it opens their eyes to what may have happened during that period in our nation’s history. Students make predictions on how high the projectile will rise in the air and the distance it will go based on the amount of powder before the mortar is fired. Flags are placed on the runway in fifty feet increments up to 1,000 feet, so the students can visualize how far the projectile may go. Instructors explain to the students how the black powder begins in a solid state, turns to gas when ignited, which propels the projectile into the air. Elementary school students learn the difference between kinetic and potential energy as instructors discuss how the projectile goes from potential to kinetic without ever losing the energy behind it. Graphing, travel speed and distance when the projectile is shot is also involved in the lesson. After the range has been cleared, students measure the exact distance the projectiles traveled and graph the data using a line graph. Before departure, teachers are given the data obtained to take back to the classroom and expand the lesson. The mission of Allison Woods Outdoor Learning Center is to re-ignite a curiosity and respect for nature through education. Math with Mortimer re-ignites the curiosity to learn and expand students’ knowledge about mathematics with an incredibly unique historical twist. This has become an increasingly popular program and students are extremely excited about this program. For additional information about the Carolina Region, please visit their website www.carolinaregionnssa.com. To learn more about Allison Woods Outdoor Learning Center or to volunteer or help us with our mission, please visit us on our website www.allisonwoodsoutdoorlearningcenter.com or visit us on Facebook.

Selena R. Goodin 27th NC Guilford Grays