In this module for grade six, formal mathematics are developed through hands-on activities related to building a fish rack for the salmon harvest. Building a Fish Rack provides opportunities to pursue open-ended problems and extended problem-solving projects. Students begin with the overall problem of how to build a fish rack, and from there they explore associated problems such as determining the area for a variety of fish-rack shapes and determining the type of three-dimensional shape that is most structurally stable.

Includes one teacher resource, three posters, and one CD-ROM.

About the Series Math in a Cultural Context

This series is a supplemental math curriculum based on the traditional wisdom and practices of the Yup'ik people of southwest Alaska. The result of more than a decade of collaboration between math educators and Yup'ik elders, these modules connect cultural knowledge to school mathematics. Students are challenged to communicate and think mathematically as they solve inquiry-oriented problems, which require creative, practical and analytical thinking. Classroom-based research strongly suggests that students engaged in this curriculum can develop deeper mathematical understandings than students who engage only with a procedure-oriented, paper-and-pencil curriculum.

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