Weekly Mathematician Series - A Peek into Math History for Your Classroom

7/31/2015 31 Comments

Throw In a Little Math History This Year

Get your #weeklymathematician updates to easily expose your students to a little math history

EDIT: Yes, we will do the #WeeklyMathematician again this year (2019-2020 school year)! The first fact will be tweeted on August 23 of 2019. Thanks for following along! Scroll down to read how to join in. Enjoy!

One of my favorite college courses as a math major was History of Math. I was surprised that I enjoyed it, because I have never liked history.

I realized that I loved taking a peek into all different areas of math. It's really fun to see how each new concept was discovered and developed.

Since then, I have always wanted to incorporate just a small pinch of math history into my classes.

The problem was always the time and effort to implement it.

I've finally pulled together a super quick and easy way for everyone to follow along with my "mathematician of the week" journey this year!

With very minimal prep (I've already done the research and collected the facts), you can get this going in your own classroom this year.

Here's the deal --- I'm going to feed the weekly fact straight to you from my twitter. And I'm going to do it each Friday for the following week! So all you have to do is copy the quick little mathematician fact onto your board before you head home for the weekend!

Then, at the end of each semester, I'll provide a free puzzle to review the mathematicians that were covered. I'll just send you the link in advance through the Twitter feed.

This would be a perfect handout for a substitute day towards the end of the semester, or as a change of pace before or after finals or winter break.

All you have to do is follow me on twitter and keep your eyes open for the hashtag #WeeklyMathematician to participate with your own class. Enjoy!

How to participate in the #weeklymathematician series with your class

Mark your teacher planner for Fridays - All you have to do is jot the tweet onto the board each week.

Click here to follow if you want to do this in your math class this year.

Mark your teacher planner for your class to participate by posting the #weeklymathematician on your board each Friday

Click the images to get the free downloads for the crossword puzzles that will help your students pull it all together! Recording sheets to use throughout the weeks are also included.

1st Semester

2nd Semester

Be sure to click the star to "follow" the TPT store when you download, so that you will get notifications as I post new materials.

You'll love these ones too! -

31 Comments

Kim

8/12/2015 02:34:28 pm

I am not on Twitter. Is it possible to get this by email or on Facebook?

Crh

8/14/2015 06:13:34 am

I am in the same boat. I don't have a Twitter account.

Math Giraffe link

8/15/2015 02:37:13 am

Hi,

I will post the facts to facebook too. Here is the page:

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Math-Giraffe/1390604627935437

I am still getting used to using facebook, but I think that you can follow along (maybe by clicking "like") - If not, you can just bookmark the page and take a look every Friday! :)

I'm so glad that you plan to follow along with the Weekly Mathematician! I'm really excited about it.

-Brigid

Math Giraffe link

8/15/2015 02:34:50 am

Hi Kim,

Yes, I just tested it out, and I can schedule these tweets to go to my facebook page as well! :)

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Math-Giraffe/1390604627935437

So excited for you to join us for the Weekly Mathematician. Thanks for asking!

-Brigid

Kim

8/16/2015 12:28:12 am

thanks! I like to throw in tidbits too. My favorite is how English borrowed the words rational and irrational...students had never noticed the imbedded word 'ratio'.

Rebecca

12/5/2016 04:28:50 pm

Are you still doing the weekly mathematician? I don't see it on the Facebook page? Thanks.

Math Giraffe link

12/5/2016 04:57:36 pm

Hi Rebecca,
Yes, but this year I was only able to get it scheduled out into the twitter feed, not the facebook. So just the twitter version this year. Thanks! :)
Have a great evening!
-Brigid

Victoria Kessler

8/14/2019 08:15:55 pm

I am nt on twitter.

Jennifer

8/19/2019 08:24:50 pm

I liked your Facebook for the mathematican weekly history. Will you be posting starting this Friday for that?

Math Giraffe link

8/23/2019 10:57:12 am

Yes, we were able to set it up to copy to facebook too :)
The first one is up today! Enjoy.

Kim Compton

7/29/2022 11:44:58 am

Would like to do the weekly mathematicians

Mrs. E Teaches Math link

8/23/2015 06:15:34 pm

This post was featured on the August issue of Math Teachers at Play! I hope it sends some blog traffic your way :) You can check it out at
http://mrseteachesmath.blogspot.com/2015/08/math-teachers-at-play-89.html

Nicky

10/2/2015 06:18:38 am

Hi, I would like to teach my kids about the history of friction. Have you got any ideas or activities I can use? Thanks!!

Math Giraffe link

10/2/2015 10:13:56 am

Hi Nicky,
I have not taught science, so I'm not too familiar with the history of friction, but if I come across anything great I will come back to let you know. :)
-Brigid

Nicky

10/2/2015 12:38:37 pm

what about the history of Fractions?

Math Giraffe link

10/5/2015 08:47:16 am

Ahhh, yes!
For fractions, I would recommend checking out the Egyptians. Here are a few links:
http://www.storyofmathematics.com/egyptian.html
https://nrich.maths.org/2515
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcXqjfXRWF8
Enjoy!! The kids will love getting a deeper look at this to see where fractions came from and how the system differed from what we use now.
-Brigid

Lori

2/28/2016 04:05:59 pm

I just found this today and love it! I am always being asked the origins of math and would like to incorporate more history into my lessons. How can I catch up on all of the facts from first semester and what has been done for this semester?

Thanks.

Math Giraffe link

2/28/2016 06:07:48 pm

Hi Lori,
Great to hear from you! So glad you like the idea.

To join in, you can find all the previous mathematicians and facts on my Twitter here: https://twitter.com/TheMathGiraffe or by searching #WeeklyMathematician.

Maybe you can do one per day at this point to get through them over then next couple of months - Your class can have a daily mathematician instead until you catch up :)

The crosswords for both semesters are available for free in my TPT store here: https://www.teacherspayteachers.com/Store/Math-Giraffe

Enjoy!! So excited for you to try it. I hope your kids like following along!

Thanks!
-Brigid

Terri

4/25/2016 10:03:13 pm

I also surprisingly loved my history of math class! So much that we have incorporated a mathematician project at the very end of each year. The kids love it too. Your history tweets will build their knowledge all year long - thanks!

Math Giraffe link

4/27/2016 01:10:24 pm

Terri, that's awesome! What a great idea for an end-of-the-year project. Thanks so much for your comment and for following along. :)
- Brigid

Abbey

8/12/2016 06:03:24 pm

Will it be the same as last year? Same mathematicians and crosswords?

Math Giraffe link

8/12/2016 06:27:35 pm

Hi Abbey,
Yes it will repeat. All the same as last year :) Thanks so much! Have an awesome school year!
-Brigid

Abbey

8/13/2016 05:10:44 pm

You too! Thank you!

Karen

12/5/2016 06:19:46 pm

When will be the last week of #weeklymathematician for this semester? Thanks!

Math Giraffe link

12/6/2016 07:09:39 pm

Hi Karen,
The last one will be go out Dec. 16th.
We will be fitting in two mid-week tweets to get all the facts in for those who start break early so you'll have them all for the crossword. The last facts will be Dec.9, 13, and 16. Thanks!
-Brigid

Julie Gutzwiller

8/12/2019 06:10:23 pm

Will you also be posting this on Facebook this year?
I have just the spot for this!
Thank you!

Math Giraffe link

8/13/2019 12:40:26 pm

Hi Julie,
Maybe... if I can get an easy app to automatically do it. It can be hard to keep up with on too many sites at once otherwise. I'll try :)
But also, you can just grab that free crossword and use the answer key to just post one fact per week if you want it all at once.
Thanks so much! Have a great school year!
-Brigid

Rhonda Hooper

7/17/2021 12:33:49 pm

will you be doing this weekly activity in 21/22?

Math Giraffe link

7/27/2021 01:40:06 pm

Hi Rhonda,
Yes, we will schedule these to happen again this upcoming school year! :) Thanks, and enjoy the rest of your summer.
-Brigid

Gail Tanner

10/17/2021 10:29:46 pm

So, I'm a little late to the game, but would love to do this with my students. I'm not finding August 23, 2019 (do I have the right date for the first clue?) in the Twitter feed. Help!!

Math Giraffe link

10/19/2021 11:39:06 am

Hi Gail,
You won't need to go back to 2019. We repeat the same series each year, so just Democritus is always first, and we start the last Friday of August usually. So if you start there and get each Friday fact, they will have everything they need for the Semester 1 crossword (linked free above). The second semester facts always are the same as well. We schedule the tweets to repeat each year for you. :) Thanks, and hope you and your students enjoy it! Let me know if you have any other questions. Have a great day. -Brigid

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