Math Trails

at

Our Lady of Mercy American School

by

Sandra Rosana Xavier

Our school has been contributing to this site for the last 3 years and every year we include Social Studies and Mathematics topics in Word documents or Power Point Presentations, involving the 8^th and 9^th grade levels.

The first year – 2001-2002 - we chose special places in Rio de Janeiro, southeast Brazil, known as ´Wonderful City´.

The second year – 2002 – 2003 - we decided to show the special places from Salvador, Bahia, northeast Brazil, which attracts thousands of tourists throughout the year, in particular during Carnival Celebration, which is held in February or March.

Last year – 2003-2004 - while discussing new ideas to develop this project we noticed many similarities between the USA and Brazil. These can be found in topics such as: town and city names, constructions, climate, and topography, among others.

The themes were proposed to the 8^th/9^th grade students that have already researched physical aspects of both countries, created their own math problems, and presented them to their classmates. The best presentations were chosen to be posted on the National Math Trail website.

The topics covered in Math were: Algebra I (Measurement, Ratios, Square Root, Distance/Velocity), Geometry (Similarity, Proportion, Solids, Area, Volume), and Trigonometry (Ratios and Functions)

The topics covered in Social Studies were: location, physical and historical aspects, landforms, relief, waterways, coast, climate, wind patterns, constructions among others.

Go to 2003-2004 Math Trail