Entrance slip for our October 7 class: Moshe Renert on math and climate change

 A number of quotes stood out to me for various reasons:

1. "Occasional references to the environment can also be found in past and present curriculum documents. But by and large, ecology has played only a negligible role in mathematics pedagogy"
   
   I chose to highlight this quote because it prompted me to investigate. Firstly, I took a look at the year of publication of this paper. It was published in 2011, ten years ago. I know that our curriculums update slowly so I was wondering if in 10 years the mathematics curriculum has been appended to include any mention of ecology. My investigation overwhelmingly supported the idea that this article's claims are relevant even ten years later. This is unacceptable. The only redeeming factor is that the mathematics education curriculum mentions in each grade level incorporating the FNESC which does incorporate cross curricular elements with ecology, including a few small activates on sustainability... (more on this later).
   
   
2. "But humans' inability to feel large numbers is very problematic in our dealings with ecology and the environment. If we do not feel numbers, then our emotional access to the physical phenomena they represent is much diminished"
   
   This one prompted me to reflect on my own high school education and recall where I was and was not encourage to elevate my intuition for big numbers. I would say that largely in the Math curriculum I was not. In the science curriculum, specifically in senior Chemistry, I recall some attempt to teach big numbers intuition. One example was in gaining an intuition for Avogadro's number (E23). it is interesting that I actually have a lingering memory from Chemistry 11 of the teacher's use of baseballs to teach this concept.
   
   
   

   

   
   In reflection it is interesting to me that this particular connection remained with me for so many years. Perhaps a similar conceptual understanding should be taught in the mathematics classroom as math is subject that reaches more students than Chemistry might be. Moreover, taking a cross-curricular approach with ecology would make a great teachable moment for our students.
   (source: https://slideplayer.com/slide/17298273/)
   
   
3. " A paradigm shift of mathematics education/ would recognize that the mathematics class itself is a living complex system, integrally embedded and open to exchanges with its environment."

This one stood out to me for very specific reason. The article calls it a 'paradigm shift' and in fact it might be but it would be a shift that is would not be entirely difficult to draft or make. Namely because a curriculum which recognizes the  closeness of mathematics principles and the environment already exists in the form of the FNESC curriculum in BC. I have long felt as though the FNESC curriculum should be a resource more largely utilized in the BC public school system and this article gives me yet another reason to advocate for it. 

A chapter in the FNESC curriculum is dedicating to land and water sustainability including activities which point to both climate mitigation and adaptation strategies. 

(Source: http://www.fnesc.ca/wp/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/PUBLICATION-Math-FP-TRG-2020-09-04.pdf)

 

• Finally, I intend to address the climate crises in my physics classes by teaching students about natural climate change drivers such as Milankovitch cycles and showing how these are used to justify changes in climate by climate deniers when in fact they are not sufficient to explain the phenomena observed. Moreover, I intend to teach my students how to read and respond to climate change myths, make concessions about scientific fact which points to natural drivers of climate, but think and respond critically by adding that only anthropogenic sources of carbon can explain the wide gaps between what can be explain by natural sources and what is observed. This way my students can feel confident having meaningful, respectful, and academically honest conversations about the climate with people from multiple perspectives and worldviews. The following resource has helped me greatly with this goal:
  
  https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-whats-warming-the-world/

I strongly encourage all to take a look.