Tree Plotting at The Grammar School Invites ACCLAIM
Tree Plotting at The Grammar School Recently, 7th graders at The Grammar School in Putney attracted the attention of researchers studying connections between rural schools and communities – in mathematics. The Grammar School was selected from among nearly 60 schools that had been nominated, nationwide, on the basis of recommendations by experts in either mathematics education or rural education. Researchers visiting The Grammar School were from The Appalachian Collaborative Center for Learning, Assessment, and Instruction in Mathematics (ACCLAIM), a multi-university center concerned with rural mathematics education. According to ACCLAIM’s principal researcher on this topic, Dr. Craig Howley, “although some schools do a great deal in making connections with their local communities, relatively few make those connections in mathematics. “
ACCLAIM’s study is being conducted at 10 rural sites scattered across the nation. The purpose of the study is to find out what makes it possible for some schools to connect math instruction with the community, and to define and describe the challenges and struggles of educators who do this work.
Dr. Lorna Jimerson, who visited The Grammar School for a week, conducting interviews and visiting classrooms, said she was “quite impressed” with the tree plot project being undertaken in Mary Heller Osgood’s 7th grade classroom. The tree plot project involves plotting 10 square meters of forest area, analyzing the types of trees in each plot, and calculating the value of each plot, in terms of board feet, for example. “I thought it was a terrific experience for the kids and an interesting way to integrate math, science, the environment and the community, “ noted Dr. Jimerson.
According to Mary Heller Osgood, who designed and maintains the tree plotting project as part of the 7th grade curriculum, The Grammar School offers unique opportunities for educators to make connections between math, science, the environment and the community. The school is situated on sixty acres of property containing forest, fields, streams, and trails in Putney, a small town where residents take great pride in their rural environment and history. Ms. Osgood feels that the tree plotting project connects chidren to the environment by incorporating the forest that is in their own backyard, and also connects her students to the community, because tree harvesting for firewood and construction timber is part of the heritage of many Vermont families.
Asked whether the tree plotting project or others like it that involve the natural environment are superior ways of teaching mathematics, Osgood replied, “anything that makes learning more fun is always the best choice, and sometimes taking complicated mathematics equations off the board and into the woods accomplishes the same thing but in a way that makes it easier to recall and put in practice.”