Summer Career Connections Session 4, Day 1, Math and Music
Day 1: Welcome to our week-long SAVY adventure! We kicked off an exciting journey today in Math and Music, where we explored the fascinating world of mathematics and its interaction with music. On this first day, we began with introductions and then ventured into probability.
Before diving into the math lesson of the day, we took the time to get to know one another because a strong and supportive community is crucial for effective learning. The students shared their names, their schools, their hobbies, and most importantly, a song that they felt described their personality. These songs ranged from Pirates of the Caribbean to Beethoven to Taylor Swift. After a few songs and introductions, it was obvious that the students were already getting comfortable with one another and getting even more excited for the week. We then brainstormed rules for the classroom and ways to demonstrate respect for each other. The students came up with the following rules all on their own and have been abiding by them in all ways!
- Try your best and work as hard as you can (even if that means YOU are not the best!)
- Be open-minded and honor others’ ideas and opinions
- Be respectful, kind, and honest
- Do not be distracting to others’ learning experiences
- Have a positive attitude! There will be songs you do not like and math that is very hard… that is okay!
After we got to know one another, it was time to explore probability. Many students had only a basic understanding of the concept, so we started from the ground up and made sure everyone was on the same page. Collectively, we concluded that probability is the branch of mathematics that deals with the likelihood of events occurring. To demonstrate this, we gathered a playlist of students’ favorite musical pieces and used the random shuffle feature to discover probability! We discussed the probability of our favorite song being played next, our song OR our neighbor’s favorite song being played next, and BOTH of our songs being played right after one another. We even ventured into thinking about the probability that a country song, rock song, or classical song would be played. They then learned that all of these situations corresponded to intersections, unions, and permutations/combinations in mathematics!
Day 1 in Math and Music at SAVY was a JOY to experience. We set the stage for an exciting week of exploration, collaboration, and discovery. Your students are incredibly bright, curious, and creative, and I am so excited to see what we create this week! I look forward to witnessing students’ growth as they develop their mathematical skills, forge new friendships, and uncover the magic of math within music. Tomorrow, we will discuss the fine line between inspiration and copyright, and we will also get to experience a LIVE bass clarinet performance and delve more into the intricacies of math and music within time signatures and fractions!
Ms. Kendall