The beaver uses determination and creativity to build houses and dams. It can do things that we would use math to figure out, such as: How many trees will it take to build the dam? How thick will the walls need to be to stand up to the water pressure? How can we build a roof that doesn’t cave in?
The old people learned how to build houses by looking at beaver lodges. Harold says, “
We learn from every animal. We honour every animal” (Nonesuch, 2008, preface).
The draft manual, which came in a three-ring binder, had about 30 pages of material. A short introduction encouraged parents to value play and family activities, such as doing the laundry, as opportunities for fostering math thinking in their children; it also encouraged them to think they could help kids with math even if their own math skills were limited; finally, it presented a set of general strategies to foster in their children. In this introduction I tried to set the tone for the group sessions themselves, that is a sense of openness and playfulness, a sense that math was more and different than the school math they remembered, encouragement to invite their children to fun activities that would develop math thinking without necessarily being labeled “math.” The introduction was followed by activities, projects, rhymes, and card and dice games. The final manual is more than 100 pages long, and includes many more examples of the same kind of activities, as well as a section on school math.
The kit that went with the draft manual was a large pencil case that hooked into the three rings of the binder. Inside were two decks of cards, five dice, a glue stick, a pair of adult-sized scissors, and a pencil. A pad of score sheets for a dice game was tucked in the pocket of the binder. As time went on, the need for other items, a measuring tape and a set of measuring cups and spoons, became apparent.
The draft manual and the kit were given to each participant at the first group session.
I invited each participant to a private interview before the group started and after it was over. At the initial interview I went over the consent form, explained the project and asked if the participant had a child/children with whom they could try out the activities. I attempted to get a brief history of their K–12 math experience, and asked how they felt about math at this time in their lives, where they use math in their daily life, and whether they did math with their kids. Then, for each child in their care, I asked about the child’s math skills and how the child felt about math, and, if the child was of school age, about grades and about what the parent and teacher talked about in relation to the child’s math.
During the final interview, I asked about what they liked and didn’t like about participating in the group, what they learned about math, and how they feel about math now. I asked the same question about where they used math in their daily life, and whether they did math with their kids. Finally, I asked what activities from the group they had tried at home, and with what results. For each child, I asked exactly the same questions as in the preliminary interviews.