Page 24 - THE MATHMATE November 2024
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is mowed and kept clear of weeds next to one build a shopping mall? You first need to find
that isn’t? A high spot that descends to a lower out if the land contains wetland plants, or
elevation? Map out a transect - this will depend endangered plants, in which case building is
on your location. I like to use trees, but you can often prohibited. Scientists make transects
use grasses and weeds just as easily, or types along the proposed site and map out the
of birds (in the woods versus a grassy field) or species they find. Certain species indicate
insects (from the sidewalks through the grass). wetland soils, and a kite diagram can tell you if
Students don’t need to know the names of the and where these soils occur. Worried about
organisms; they just need to be able to sea level rise? A transect along the sandy
differentiate between the species you have. beach, marsh flat, or the rock jetty can help
For a schoolyard lawn transect, I may only you to understand the types of animals that
need a ten-foot transect that is six inches wide; may be endangered as sea level rises. All in
with a forested area I may go 50 feet into the all, kite diagrams satisfy both math and
woods. Every 10 feet along the 50-foot science standards, get students thinking about
transect, stop, and reach your arms out - if you their local environments, and tie mathematics
can touch a tree, identify and count it. We may reasoning (how to represent data, selecting
call a Holly tree, “Tree A”, and the Post Oak, the number of individuals a graph square will
“Tree B”, and so on, but we will count each tree represent) with scientific reasoning (why
that we find along the transect and in a data certain patterns exist). It’s a win-win!
table we will write down how many of each tree
at each ten-foot distance for the 50 feet total. References
Back in the classroom, we can turn this data Sobel, D. 2004. Place-based education:
into a kite diagram. connecting classrooms and communities.
Orion Society.
This puts a more abstract principle (how to ISBN 978-0913098547
make a kite diagram, and when to use a kite
diagram) into perspective. It makes it relatable Resources
to the real world, and to “place”. Place-based Pike, L. How to make a Kite Diagram
education, championed by environmental (student handout, and teacher’s key). 2021.
educator David Sobel (2004) uses the
students' local environment as a primary Darron Gedge's Geography Channel (3.5
resource for learning. Place-based learning is minutes) “How to make a kite graph”. 2013.
community-centered, inquiry-driven, and https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_yKtAHhTF5
interdisciplinary: the community connections 0
increase student interest and engagement,
and test scores as well. Students just enjoy Basic Excel Tutorial (Microsoft Excel 2013)
getting outside, and many of them do know “Kite Chart”. 2012. https://best-
some of the local plant and animal life around exceltutorial.com/56-charts/267-kite-chart
them, becoming your “science” experts for the
day. You can also connect this with careers, Giunda, A. 2020. How to make a kite diagram in
as an enumeration of species along a transect google sheets.
is done by biologists for many reasons, https://sheetstutorial.com/charts/how-to-make-a-
particularly with plant communities. Want to kite-diagram-in-google-sheets/
Scctm The MathMate 24 Volume 44/Number 1 October 2024
