On Friday I took a group of students to We Day. It is a day organized by Free the Children, a charity which inspires youth to take action and be agents of positive change in the world. Founded by Craig Kielburger, the main missions of this charity are to assist the impoverished with education, clean water and sanitation, health, alternative income, agriculture and food security. Full day events will occur this year in Toronto, Vancouver, Alberta, Manitoba, Waterloo, Montreal and Saskatchewan. The day is filled with musicians and motivational speakers who want to inspire youth to get involved in social action. In Toronto, we listened to Jennifer Hudson, The Tenors, Al Gore, Justin Trudeau, Hedley, Martin Sheen, Nelly Furtado, Spencer West, General Romeo Dallaire, K’naan, Justice Sinclair, and The Honourable David C. Onley. Our students left feeling inspired by the stories they heard and energized to rally for others less fortunate than themselves. In the spirit of the day, I would like to highlight a few math resources that focus on social action.
I discovered a new resource called “Real World Math: Engaging Students through Global Issues” from Facing the Future. I tried one of their sample activities in the spring, which linked sustainability to surface area and volume. I decided to order a copy for this year, and I am excited to try more of their tasks. The resource focuses on issues such as waste and recycling, poverty, population growth, youth conflict, global health and carbon emissions. There are a variety of other resources to explore on their website, including web-based and print resources.
For many years I have been a fan of an organization called The Southern Poverty Law Center, whose mandate is to fight hate and intolerance. Their Teaching Tolerance program assists educators in preparing youth to live in a diverse world.
The Global Education website is based in Australia, and contains resources for a variety of global issues such as clean water, cultural diversity, human rights, sustainability, poverty, international aid, food security and the environment.
It is also worth checking out a few other resources that I have previously mentioned. “Math that Matters” from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives focuses on connecting math and social justice so that students can make connections between what they learn in the classroom and the world around them. Radical Math is a website resource for integrating economic and social justice issues into the math classroom.
Have a great week.
