By Linda Adams and Colleen Behrens

For most of us, our middle school and high school math and science classes were taught in isolation.  Today not much has changed.  A student will go to a math class and then to a science class and – though the content and concepts might be related – they are taught in isolation.   In science, many of the Science and Engineering Processes (SEP) rely on mathematical computation to answer complex questions about phenomena.  As students progress, conceptual learning relies on more complex mathematical reasoning for sense-making.   In mathematics, students experience most learning of algorithms as deriving, manipulating, and memorizing  “naked numbers” without context, and then may have some “word problems” in the independent work where they must decide which algorithm to use and what numbers to plug in. 

 What if the student’s experience was more of a crossover between their math and science courses?   The CCSS-Mathematics and the NGSS have a lot in common. 

The terminology might be different between the MP and the SEP but the conceptual understandings are similar.  Math and science teachers can explicitly teach the terminology of the MP and SEP in their classes to help students understand the interconnectedness of the two domains. Check out this video: here’s what one middle school did to help their students make those connections (6:49 minutes). 

Similarly, the area of applied mathematics requires students to use mathematical modeling to describe scientific phenomena. UC Santa Cruz offers us a short video describing how their mathematicians, scientists and engineers use mathematics in their fields (3:41 minutes).

There are challenges to creating interdisciplinary experiences but how can we think differently about what we teach and how students learn?  How can we create more opportunities for students to make real-world connections between math and science/engineering practices? 

Below are some possible actions for math and science departments in the pursuit of more interconnection/overlap:

• Compare terminology in math and science and explicitly teach in both subjects. For example, How is a conjecture in math similar to a hypothesis in science?
  • Coordinate SIW meetings to discuss the similarity and differences between the MP and SEP’s
  • Conduct learning walks where math teachers and science teachers observe each other in action.
  • Ask students to reflect on their experiences in both science and math.
  • Plan for opportunities to incorporate developing mathematical models, use computational thinking, and construct viable arguments, critique and debate the reasoning of others based on evidence across both disciplines. 
  • Revisit the overlapping skills with the CCSS and the NGSS and intentionally include elements into your lessons.

Common Math and Science Tools:

1. CoDAP online data analysis tool
2. Desmos online graphing calculator and activities
3. TUVA LABS data analysis tool available as part of Stemscopes units for middle School science
4. Gizmos Math and Science simulations. All BLSD high school science teachers have access. Curious math and middle school teachers can reach out to Colleen.
5. JASP online data library
6. MyNasaData data sets and lessons plans
7. Our World Data data explorer for statistics
8. What’s Going on with this Graph?  Weekly graph for classroom analysis done by the New York Times 
9. Searchable Next Generation Science Standards
10. Oregon Science Standards – NGSS
11. Oregon -Common Core State Standards 

Works Consulted: Mayes, Robert, and Thomas Koballa. “Exploring the Science Framework: Making connections in math with Common Core State Standards.” NSTA, Dec. 2012, static.nsta.org/ngss/resources/201212_Framework-MayesKoballa.pdf.