Session # 1014 9:05 AM Numeracy + Information = Success

Melissa Poremba, B.A., B.Math., B.Ed., LIT Dipl.,

We expertly use our libraries to support literacy skills development. Now let's use our same assets to support numeracy education! The library is the perfect place to curb "math anxiety" as we can show students that math is useful, interesting, relevant and even fun. Learn how to utilize your library's collections and services to integrate numeracy skills development in programming. Information literacy is defined as "the ability to acquire, critically evaluate, select, use, create and communicate information in ways which lead to knowledge and wisdom" (Information Literacy and Equitable Access (ILEA): Draft Document, Ministry of Education and Training, 1995). ~ p. 3

As Figure 1 demonstrates, information literacy encompasses "all other forms of literacy -- traditional literacy (the ability to read and write) and (the ability to critically evaluate and create media, such as television, advertising, news stories and movies) and numerical literacy (the ability to understand and solve problems with data and numbers)." (ILEA) ~ p. 3

~ p. 4  To navigate a library, you need

(and vice versa!)  Increase awareness of the potential of the library to support numeracy education › Have traditionally focused on literacy (and where most are more comfortable)

 Give you the confidence to establish and promote your library as a destination for numeracy support and resources › You already have what you need

 Present a wide range of ideas for combining information literacy and numeracy initiatives › Don‘t be overwhelmed

 Inspire you to come up with more ways to integrate numeracy into your library‘s collections and programs › Can‘t possibly cover everything today › Adapt—every library is different

“Math” words within the document: • graphs • pictographs • charts • data • problem solving • timelines • spreadsheets • tally charts • probability • surveys • samples • bias • reasonableness of results • matrices  Sort and classify objects by characteristic and category (K)  Identify parts of fictional texts such as table of contents and chapters (Gr. 1)  Read pictures for information (Gr. 1) [i.e. size, number]  Identify pattern books (Gr. 1)  Identify major Dewey Decimal categories (Gr. 2)  Begin to use the Dewey Decimal system, simple indexes and catalogues (Gr. 2)  Use a table of contents, index and chapter headings (Gr. 2)  Read simple pattern books, chart stories and non-fiction texts for pleasure and understanding  Identify the parts of non-fiction texts such as indexes (Gr. 3)  Begin to identify catalogue record elements (Gr. 3)  Begin to use catalogues to locate materials by call number (Gr. 3)  Identify Dewey Decimal sub-categories (Gr. 4)  Use index in multi-volume works (Gr. 4)  Compare fiction and nonfiction texts to classify their features (Gr. 4)  Begin to search the Internet using keywords in single search engines (Gr. 5)  Describe information anxiety and overload in contemporary society (Gr. 8)  Select handbooks, almanacs and directories (Gr. 9)  Verify the logic of argument (Gr. 9)  Search the Internet using a range of strategies available in a variety of single search engines (Gr. 9)  Select appropriate census material (Gr. 10)  Analyze inaccuracy and ambiguity in information and their effect on argument (Gr. 10)  Identify the role of information in society in such fields as criminology (Gr. 10)  Interpret statistical information in varied media such as handbooks, yearbooks, almanacs and reports (Gr. 10)  Describe different classification systems (Gr. 11)  Explain ways of making information secure such as encryption (Gr. 11)  Analyze both inductive and deductive arguments and evaluate the logic of their conclusions (Gr. 12)

In other words … there are numerous examples!!!  Main categories/perspectives › Library organization and collections › Individual items as manipulatives › Content of the resources  Direct and indirect › Research/Searching techniques

 Main audiences  Students (range of abilities and interests) 

Information literacy lessons Numeracy skills instruction supporting supporting numeracy skills instruction information literacy lessons

Important to be aware of mathematics curriculum • Are you introducing a new topic?* • Are you expanding upon a topic already taught in the math class?

Collaborating with teachers is essential

*Not teaching the math!  Dewey Decimal System  Library organization and collections › Where are the non-fiction books? › How can you tell? What are the 10 main Dewey Classes? › Why ten? › In what other ways could we classify and organize the library collection? › How have you organized your books at home? In your classroom? › What are the main sub-classes? (Division) › Move through Dewey hundreds to thousands › Discuss: 398 and 813 › Look at OCLC http://www.oclc.org/dewey/resources/summaries/#300

Sample bookmark from Demco  Searching/Researching › Locating items on the shelves (Not trivial!) › Record call number from catalogue, match to shelf location, locate exact match › How are shelves labeled? Do you need to locate the correct bay first? Then the correct shelf? (Order, inequalities, notion of ―range‖) › Whole numbers then decimals › Decimals require knowledge of place value http://holmanlibraryblog.blogspot.com/ › Watch terminology: 599.29 vs. 599.4 › Search for a subject and see how many ranges of Dewey numbers treat that subject  DDC is a complex and nuanced classification system—worthy of lots of attention!  Every time you guide a student in locating a non-fiction book on the shelves, every time you train a page (library helper), you are essentially reviewing a mathematics lesson!  Be aware of the progression of steps (spiral the curriculum)  Extremely important that students understand the universality of this system

http://frank.mtsu.edu/~vvesper/dewey2.htm  Must practice  ―Order in the Library‖ http://users.ece.utexas.edu/~valmstrum/s2s/utopia/library4/src/library4.html

 ―Shelved: Librarian Game‖ app for iPad and iPhone http://speakquietly.blogspot.com/2011/01/librarian-game.html

 Collection as manipulatives › Evaluate expressions involving decimals and search for items with corresponding Dewey numbers › Take several books and perform operations with their Dewey numbers › Organize scavenger hunt matching math question answers to call numbers › ―Dewey Decimal Sudoku‖ in School Library Media Activities Monthly  http://www.schoollibrarymedia.com/artic les/Montgomery2007v23n10.html

 Look for teachable moments  Seize opportunities › Formal › informal  Try to seamlessly integrate › We all use math every day!  Ratio • Proportion of collection in various genres, formats, etc.; • Compare with number of shelves in various genres  Rate • If purchase books at rate x and weed at rate y . . . • If we have 4 copies of the book, the regular loan period is two weeks and you are 15th in the queue, when are you likely to obtain the book? • What is the most popular book in the collection? How would we determine this?  Estimation • Do you think we have more picture books or more fiction books? • Number of items in collection, in each section of the collection – what information would you need? • Do we have enough space to combine the softcover and hardcover picture books?  Problem solving • What information would you need to calculate the approximate value of the books in the collection? • What should we do with books that are never borrowed? • What if we keep purchasing new books but not discarding?  Have students tally, chart and/or graph their findings

 How many numbers can you find on/in a book? (ISBN, price, pages, chapters, level, date, Dewey number, edition, etc.)

 Have you seen a book with an unusual page numbering pattern?

 What did we gain by switching to ISBN-13? How many more items can we uniquely identify?

 Why do we need barcodes? (or library cards?)

 Reference collection is excellent place to study concept of ‗relative size‘ as ‗biggest books‘ usually located there. What does ‗biggest book‘ mean?

 Use duplicate copies and Big Books (read aloud size) to demonstrate ‗similar‘ and ‗congruent‘

 Shape of books  Golden ratio  Merchandising—appeal  The of bookshelves!!!  Library architecture and design  ―The Library as Shape‖ in The Library at Night by Alberto Manguel (p. 129-161)  The mathematics of bookmaking  Book fairs › What is the total value of the books on your wish list? › Did you qualify to get the promotional prize (min. $25)? › You have $15 to spend and the books you have selected cost… › What value of books would each person in the school need to purchase for us to reach our goal?

 The library budget is $1000, what combination of items from the wish list/Forest of Reading list can we afford to purchase?

 Why are students charged for lost books? Overdue books?

 Are donated books really ‗free‘?

 Collection can be categorized based on many ‗attributes‘ (hardcover/soft-cover, fiction/nonfiction, reference/circulating, etc.)

 Arrange selection of books into various patterns based on attributes

 Overlap with Venn diagrams

 Discussion of the geometric patterns of the Laurentian Library‘s tile floor designed by Michelangelo: http://ralph.cs.cf.ac.uk/papers/Geometry/Laurentian.pdf

 Activity: Book Drive › Sort books: fiction, non-fiction, picture books › Tally books in each category › Use Excel to make chart and graph › Submit to newsletter  Learn to use OPAC features by answering questions such as › How many books do we have by Robert Munsch? › How many items that come up under a keyword search for ‗bears‘ are fiction? › What is the oldest book we have on the subject of mathematics? › How could I find out the average age of a portion of the collection?

 Explain that all electronic resources are founded upon the binary number system

 What other subject headings might be used when searching for ‗math‘ books?

 Why is it important to record the entire Dewey number from the catalogue before going to the shelves?

 Search Engine Math from Search Engine Watch http://searchenginewatch.com/2156021

 How to Use Search Engine Math to Search the Internet Effectively http://www.ehow.com/how_5010176_use-math- search-internet-effectively.html

 Pandia: A Short and Easy Search Engine Tutorial › Boolean Operators http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/4.html

› Search Engine Math http://www.pandia.com/goalgetter/10.html Zimmer, David, et al. Mathematics of From OSLA‘s Information Studies, Data Management. Scarborough, ON: pages 18 and 19. Nelson, 2002. (page viii)  Some of these activities may leave the shelves in a shambles, but they are well worth it if students gain exposure to the collection and find something that they would like to borrow

Mathematics in fiction = Mathematics in context

› Plot  Central  Incidental

› Characters  Students  Math teachers  Mathematicians

› Point it out › Discuss it › Encourage students to locate more

 What do we call the application of mathematics in a story?

Joe borrowed three books from the library while his sister Nancy borrowed nine. After one week, their mother returned four of the books.  A word problem! How many library books does the family still have out?

The Poremba Public Library charges $.15 per day for overdue books, and $1.00 per day for overdue DVDs. Rick still has out five books  Now being called and four movies that were due on February 4. If the library is open every day and therefore accrues fines every day, how much will Rick ―story problems‖! have to pay if he returns his books today, February 10?

2011 Fiction Nominee

See examples p. 13 p. 63-65 ―Mathematical Fiction‖ maintained by Alex Kasman College of Charleston

http://kasmana.people.cofc.edu/MATHFICT/

 DEAR, DIRT, SSR › Get the math teachers on board

 Math anxiety

 Giftedness

Don‟t pass along your own „math phobia‟, please! You wouldn‟t say you don‟t like reading!  Where could we verify a math concept presented in a fictional work? Math Prodigy Savant

Hardy and Ramanujan Sonya Kovalevsky

Sophie Germain  Reference to ‗Pi‘ in the Bible

‗Pi‘ in the Old Testament: “And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the other: it was round all about, and his height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it about.” (I Kings 7, 23)

 Try ‗Google‘ this topic for an excellent discussion on the objectivity, reliability, authority of web sites

Mobius strip

Eternity scarf Related nonfiction

Movie

Related fiction

Putting your mathematical skilIs to work • Is it legal? • Is it ethical? Author Discussion Covers Another movie http://www.math.harvard.edu/~knill/mathmovies/ 84 holds!  Cross-curricular initiatives  Link to topic of ―bullying‖

One By Kathryn Otoshi

 Link to discussion of ―uniqueness‖

#1 (One) By Vladimir Radunsk

Dissatisfied with its shape, a triangle keeps asking the local shapeshifter to add more lines and angles until it doesn't know which side is up.

Plus discussion of dual meaning of words

Fibonacci poems

„Count‟ vs. „non-count‟ nouns  Regular dodecahedron: a polyhedron (solid with plane faces) with 12 faces, each of which is a regular pentagon  Finalist, 2006 Governor General‘s Award for Fiction  Can you construct the dodecahedron that links the characters in the stories?  Data-mining  Probability  Predicting

Math and Information

Mathematics is at the heart of sharing, sorting and protecting information. Cryptography, bioinformatics and computational mathematics form the basis for manipulating the data that flows from system to system, stores medical records or compiles the Oxford English Dictionary.

~University of Waterloo promotional brochure Some very inspiring stories:

John Charles Fields Donald Coxeter John Mighton Eric Demaine Ravi Vakil A. K. Dewdney Kim Rossmo

―When I was quite young, I believe no older than 11, I came across two books that would determine how I thought about mathematics for the next 20 years, until, at the age of 31, I found the confidence to return to school and start a degree in the subject. One book was a collection of science fiction from the local library. It contained a story about two children who construct a Mobius strip that enables them, by a process I unfortunately can‘t recall, to travel in time….Though I haven‘t reread the short story since I was a child, I would be surprised if it was well written, and even more surprised if the mathematics behind it was sound. But the story awoke a greater sense of wonder than I have felt reading anything since: from it I gained the conviction that mathematics was a magical subject that would allow me, once I had mastered it, to transcend the everyday.‖ (9) ~ Mighton, John. The Myth of Ability: Nurturing Mathematical Talent in Every Child. Toronto: Anansi, 2003.

John Mighton, a Canadian, is a mathematician, author (The Myth of Ability, The End of Ignorance), playwright (Governor General‘s Literary Award for Drama), actor (Good Will Hunting), and educator (JUMP) ~ http://jumpmath.org/about/mighton

Describes the life and work of Eratosthenes, the Greek geographer and astronomer who accurately measured the circumference of the Earth. While he is also known for the Sieve of Eratosthenes, he was a librarian at Alexandria, too.

 ―E‖ for ―everyone‖! › But not at every time!  Concept books › Read carefully!

A place for everything and everything in its place Fibonacci Sequence

Read the instructions

Is “a2 + b2 = c2” helpful?  Take advantage of a ‗teachable moment‘  Information literacy lesson › What is the issue/error? › What correction is necessary? › How does that make you feel about the remaining contents of the book? › Who should we inform? › What are their credentials? › How can we contact them? › Can we write our own story?

Literacy + math = Numeracy and literacy : creative connections in teaching k-8 mathematics the elementary using children's literature classroom By Robin A. Ward, 2007 By Jennifer L. Altieri, 2010

Math memories you can Picturing math : hands-on count on : a literature-based activities to connect math approach to teaching with picture books mathematics in the primary By Colleen Kessler , 2006 classrooms By Jo-Anne Lake, 2007

Literature-based activities for integrating mathematics with other content areas (K-2, 3-5, 6-8) By Robin A. Ward, 2008 What if your ABCs were Connecting math with your 123s? : literature : using children's building connections literature as a springboard between for teaching math concepts literacy and numeracy grades 3-6 By Leslie Minton, 2007 By Lisa Crooks, 2002

Math links : teaching the New visions for linking NCTM 2000 standards literature and mathematics through children's By David J. Whitin, Phyllis literature Whitin, 2004 By Evans, Leija, Falkner, 2001

Meeting the math Math through children's standards with favorite literature picture books : lessons, By Braddon, Hall, Taylor, activities, and hands-on 2000 reproducibles that help you teach essential math skills and concepts By Bob Krech , 2002

Math and Literature series Math and Nonficton series http://www.mathsolutions.com/index.cfm?pag e=wp18&contentid=112&crid=97&mcrid=108

Chart of children‘s literature featured in Math Solutions Publications series http://www.mathsolutions.com/do cuments/lessons_chart-2.pdf

 Make sure material is accessible  Constantly promote

Out of sight, out of mind  Again, not trivial  Cross-curricular connections  Provide a positive, integrated experience with mathematics  Make sure to include teachers in this lesson Where do you have it? Careful!  Something we can all do › Math-specific › Incorporate into other themes

• Cardinal vs. ordinal numbers • Use of „math‟ terms in other contexts  Kids love extreme numbers  Link to Information Studies o Story of name of Google, Googleplex o Facts about amount of ‗information‘ processed by Google every day • PageRank algorithm considers more than 500 million variables and 2 billion terms Googol • Google receives several hundred million 100 10 queries each day through its various services. • Google processes over 20 petabytes of data per day  Books about ‗zero‘ and/or ‗nothing‘

Klarreich, Erica. "Crafty geometry: mathematicians are knitting and crocheting to visualize complex surfaces." Science News 23 Dec. 2006: 411+. Academic OneFile. Web. 30 Jan. 2011.

 Black History Month

 Valentine‘s Day

• Story of Polly Nomial and Curly Pi

 We facilitate school-wide literacy programs, so…  Books

 Sites › http://mathcentral.uregina.ca/RR/database/RR.09.95/danylczuk1.html › http://www.2learn.ca/mapset/enjoy/100days/100days.asp › http://www.gecdsb.on.ca/d&g/100thday.htm  http://www.worldmathday.com/  World Math Day Video Challenge (Teacher Tube) › http://www.teachertube.com/video.php?category=mv&chid=77 › Be the driving, coordinating force just as for Day http://www.abc-canada.org/en/family_literacy/family_literacy_day  In Australia, the government sponsors a combined National Literacy and Numeracy Week › http://www.literacyandnumeracy.gov.au/  Real World Math Contest (Teacher Tube + Texas Instruments)

 Books

 Sites › http://www.piday.org/ › http://www.edhelper.com/pi_day.htm?gclid=CLaH6druqpoCFQENDQod oUPuzg › http://www.exploratorium.edu/pi/

 Also Einstein‘s birthday!  Tesselations (Escher)  Origami › Read about Eric Demaine (Canadian now at MIT) › http://mathforum.org/library/results.html?style=power&textsearch=origami  Quilting  Fractals  Doodling http://www.maa.org/news/121407vakil.html  Golden Ratio/Divine Proportion (nature, art, architecture) › http://www.mcs.surrey.ac.uk/Personal/R.Knott/Fibonacci/fibInArt.html

 Games day – learn about probability, , game theory, logic puzzles

“Play for Literacy” 2011 Family Literacy Day theme http://abclifeliteracy.ca/en/family-literacy-day  Dress up as twins  Books about the number 2 and/or multiplying by 2

 Books with ―two‖ in the title

 See Carol Hurst ―Math and Children‘s Literature  http://www.carolhurst.com/subjects/math/librarymath.html