Over the last two years, I've been developing the Wilder Method, a newish mathematical model of teaching. It's based on my research and training at Harvard, Stanford, and MIT, and combines the best mathematical teaching practices with outdoor education.
Why Outdoors?
We know that children are easily drawn to nature. Like all other primates, Homo sapiens have biophilia. Biophilia is an intrinsic love of nature. Coined by renowned Harvard professor E.O. Wilson, biophilia explains why humans are drawn to water, open spaces, plants, and natural wild areas. The thought is that over evolutionary history, we grew up in natural spaces, and to this day, we have a soft fascination with them. They intrigue us and invite us to learning, exploring, and becoming.
Dr. Richard Kaplan and his daughter, Dr. Rachel Kaplan, developed the biophilia hypothesis further through their work on attention restoration theory. Attention Restoration Theory states that nature restores our minds through four avenues:
The feeling of being removed from one's daily tasks and routines.
The environment is large enough or contains enough elements to be coherent and absorbing.
The environment is compatible with the individual's preferences, needs, and goals.
Elements that gently capture attention, like soft fascination, allow the mind to rest.
Since nature automatically puts our minds at rest, it seemed like the perfect setting to teach mathematics.
Stress-free Mathematics
Throughout my 24-year teaching career, a large portion of students have reported that they find mathematics stressful. Dr. Jo Boaler at Stanford University explains that mathematics is often stress-laden because children are pressed to do abstract thinking rather than concrete learning. Numbers are simply characters that represent actual tactile things. However, in the early years, we often focus on mathematics on learning numbers, addition-subtraction, and multiplication-division using these abstract characters. Children use algorithms or ways of solving problems, like how to carry in double-digit addition, or they learn tricks for multiplying in their head. But the reality is that mathematics is about real objects and how we use them, divide them, rearrange them, and represent them.
In my opinion, mathematics is stressful because we've forgotten what it really is: the representation of real objects moving and changing. By going back to natural objects, children have the ability to approach math stress-free. In the Wilder Method, we begin with the collection of natural objects. This week, we will start with pebbles. Every child loves a good pebble because they are fun to skip, balance, throw, count, and create with. With three and four-year-olds, we begin by collecting the just-right pebbles so we can use them to count and create patterns. In the beginning, we don't worry about their colour, but we do focus on their general size. We will later use size (when we talk about magnification and multiplication).
Once we have a solid collection, we start making patterns out of them. We begin counting them. Then we introduce the dot cards.
To begin, show the children the 1 pebble dot card.
Ask them to create the pattern using the pebbles you collected.
Once they create it, repeat by showing them the 2 pebble dot card.
Continue the work until you do the 5 pebble card.
If the children still seem interested, introduce the 6-pebble card.
Ask them what they notice?
Then introduce the 7-10 cards.
Once the children have done all the cards, consider extensions
Extensions
Show the children a random dot card and ask them to make the pattern. Ask them what number it represents.
Show the children a dot card and ask them to make a pattern that is different than the one on the card.
Use the pebbles and a stamp pad to create their own dot patterns. What numbers do they represent?
In subsequent posts, I will offer more and new dot cards with interesting patterns and colors. You can use these other pebble dot cards to extend your work to counting to higher numbers, addition, and subtraction.
