Young Students Can Dance to Music and Mathematics

March 21, 2008

Students at Sibley Elementary School, in grades four through six, in the cold, southern Minnesota city of Albert Lea, are able to stay warm and physically fit by learning how dance, music, and mathematics are interrelated.

The school's music and physical education classes happen to be the arena. The opportunity to engage in mathematics more deeply comes, at no cost to the students, from a videocast by the Minnesota Shubert Performing Arts and Education Center. By telecasting music and simple dance arrangements to the classes, the video program allows the students to actually see and engage in applications of adding, subtracting, dividing, and multiplying.

Afterwards, the students can discuss subjects such as whole numbers and subdivision. They're more familiar with patterns, frequency, sequences, and sets. The students even touch a bit upon basic geometry--since dancing involves various triangle patterns.

Source: Albert Lea Tribune