Space Project Beyond!

Published on: February 23, 2017

by Paul Romani (M.Ed.)

Having completed the first big project of our primary/intermediate Space theme, the students are now learning a variety of key math concepts and applying this to their space research.

Firstly, the students are learning about fractions, ratios, percentages and decimals (in tandem). This involves have a solid understanding of each concept and their relation with one another, e.g. that 0.5 = 1:2 = 1/2 = 50%. This applies for every common fraction, as well as irregular ones.

They will then learn how to calculate any of these from 2 sets of numbers – understanding what it is that they are calculating, and why, and what this result would look like as a percentage, ratio, etc.

After that, the students will then carry out an indepth comparative analysis of the planets eitherside of the one that they studied about, comparing size, distance, temperatures, gravity, density, mass, and so on.

Practically astro-math!

This is just one example of Pear Tree’s progressive approach to math and its application in project-based and theme-based learning.