Welcome back to my blog! It’s been a while since I’ve done a Scimatics post, so here we are with another unit finished. This unit was all about Polynomials and Like Terms. As you can read in my unit end Mind Map, I explain what these are. This unit was pretty cool because we had the opportunity to choose whatever method we liked to present our learning with polynomials and like terms, and answer the driving question, “How do we organize and combine similar objects in the physical world and the mathematical world?” 

I was paired up with my fellow Amelia, and since we both really like art, we decided to do our project on it. We made a cool painting, and then added up the price of materials and time spent, then estimated a cost to sell this painting for. We determined whether or not we made back what we spent on the painting and if we made any extra profit. Everything is explained in the video we made, so check it out here! 

So, as we usually do, we have some competencies that our projects were aimed to meet. The competencies that Amelia and I excelled at were: 

Communicating and representing

• Communicate mathematical thinking in many ways

I believe we did so by simply answering the driving question— “How do we organize and combine similar objects in the physical world and the mathematical world?” By looking at this question, we could find multiple ways to answer it, and chose on of them that best suited our interests for a project. 

• Represent mathematical ideas in concrete, pictorial, and symbolic forms

We definitely did this! By using a painting as our main focus, and then using the math to calculate the costs of the brushes, paints, time, and canvas, we were representing the idea of using polynomials with objects in the real world. We also made some animations to represent the numbers and materials which would contribute to this competency. 

Connecting and reflecting

• Connect mathematical concepts to each other and to other areas and personal interests

Amelia and I’s personal interest is art, so we connected the usage of like terms and polynomials with our love for art, which allowed for us to create a project that was interesting and compelling for us while still including the required mathematical elements. We also connected this project to artists who might use this way to calculate their sales of art in real life. 

• Use mathematical arguments to support personal choices

Again, the personal choice of liking painting is supported by the calculation of how to sell and profit off the painting using polynomials and like terms. 

As you can see, this unit has been great for taking initiative and incorporating math into our own personal interests. I’ve learned a lot about polynomials and like terms of course, but also about how they’re used in real life by watching the projects of others; for example, Nik and Lucy’s project about how polynomials and like terms are used when running a business was very informative and well-done. I believe this unit is one of the best ones we’ve done in Scimatics so far!