School is crazy and math is strange
Seymour Papert has suggested that young children enter school mathematically curious, imaginative and capable, and that they have to learn to be otherwise.
This song is based on several classroom experiences where students explored physical patterns with the sums of odd and even numbers, in grades 2-8, in a storied setting. See a classroom example. Song style inspired by Bob Dylan's, Things Have Changed.
Gadanidis, Borba, Hughes, Parliament, Gerofsky
Look Mom, I say, here is a square
Come closer, take a peek if you dare
I see the look in your eyes, you’re thinking so what
It has a secret, a secret hiding inside
It’s a really neat place for a secret to hide
Mom says she hates math but it’s something I shine at
Standing in the kitchen, wondering what’s the use
Any minute now I'm expecting her irritable side to break loose
School is crazy and math is strange
I see my brother he’s out of range
He used to care, but things have changed
I hurt easy, I just don’t show it
You can hurt someone and not even know it
You can inspire a person to wonder too
Could you change, could you see
That math is something special to me
I’m in love with math, doesn’t it appeal to you?
My life is beautiful, help me keep it this way
"I’m in love with math," let me hear you say
School is crazy and math is strange
I see my brother he’s out of range
He used to care, but things have changed
But Mom seems interested, she takes a peek
Perhaps she doesn’t see me as a freak
Mom I see a look of wonder in your brown eyes
Pull off a piece, now take another, and another
See the pattern in the pieces, how they fit together
They snuggle like spoons, these odd numbers in disguise
Standing in the kitchen thinking, trying to cope
I see my Mom smiling at the square, so maybe there is hope
School is crazy and math is strange
I see my brother he’s out of range
He used to care, but things have changed
Mom looks curiously, at the Ls in her hands
She adds one more, the pattern expands
"There are odd numbers hiding in squares?"
"I love their feel, the pattern they create"
"One fits in another, they all relate"
"Where do even numbers hide?" she smiles at me and says
Standing in the kitchen thinking, talking about math
With my Mom smiling at a square, I sense a new path
School is crazy and math is strange
I see my brother he’s out of range
He used to care, but things have changed
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