Published by Wendy Goodridge (Assistant Curator, the Egypt Centre) on Egyptological, In Brief, on 3rd August 2012.
The Egypt Centre, at Swansea University, was faced with the threat of loosing school party visits when ancient Egyptian history was taken from the National Curriculum in Wales. The education programme was re-vamped, with advice from local teachers and volunteers, to cover many areas of the National Curriculum and one of the most popular activities (apart from mummification of course!) is ‘Maths and Measuring.’ The aim of the topic is to encourage children to enjoy maths and experiment using different methods of calculation and measurement. This is available for British Key Stage 2 (ages 7 to 11) and 3 students (ages 11 to 14) . Schools can book a whole or half day session for their pupils. . The teachers have no need to know anything about Egyptology to get involved, as all the activities are museum-led.
Children examine the measuring units used by the ancient Egyptians and decide which ones to apply in order to measure various objects. They compare ancient measuring units, based on the width of a finger, a span of the hand and the length of your forearm, with modern measuring units and recognise the imperfections of the ancient units! During this activity they measure various objects on display, as well as themselves, and in the handling collection in the gallery.
Children then look at the way numbers were written in ancient Egypt and complete simple and more complicated calculations using this system. Connections between addition and subtraction and multiplication and division are made. Other activities cover topics such as mirror images, reflection, co-ordinates, symmetry and repeated patterning. The children develop strategy and team-building skills while playing the ancient board game called Senet. We use a replica of a senet board found in Tutankhamun’s tomb and they use throw sticks as well as a die to encourage them to explore probability. Children build pyramids using multi-link blocks and work out everyday mathematical problems of the ancient embalmer! They are encouraged to explore number patterns, make predictions and develop mathematical strategies to overcome difficulties even when practising the art of mummification on a dummy mummy of course!
Each activity can normally lasts half an hour at the Egypt Centre but can take much longer back at school as they may have more time per activity). The activities in the free pack for the exhibition cover topics such as: calculating the ancient Egyptian way! (Addition and subtraction, multiplication and division) measuring the ancient Egyptian way. Symmetry and co-ordinates etc.
If they are coming to us at the Egypt Centre, the teachers choose what they would like to do before-hand and we get the packs with the relevant sheets they need for the chosen activity ready for them with clipboards and pencils. They normally start at 10 and finish at 2.30 so they then choose 3 activities from the ‘House of Death’ (e.g. mummification, maths for mummifiers, pyramid puzzles) and 3 activities from the ‘House of Life’ (e.g. mathematics!, measuring the Egyptian way, symmetry and repeated patterns), The children are split into two groups half in each gallery do the activities in that gallery then go for lunch and swap over after lunch so they have a chance to do all the activities.
The topic proved so popular the Egypt Centre launched a travelling exhibition entitled Pharaohs’ Formulae, consisting of 14 display boards, provided free to local schools. The aim of the exhibition was to make maths fun for children and a local comprehensive teacher, an ex-Swansea University student herself, who had chosen Egyptian mathematics for her dissertation topic, acted as a consultant and piloted the project.
Teachers borrow the exhibition on a monthly basis and receive an information booklet to go with it, which includes fun activities to try out at school. Due to the fact so many schools were using the exhibition an additional set of boards has been produced for use, thanks to the support of the Mathematics Dept at Swansea University who applied for funding from the London Mathematics Society.
We have had some excellent feedback from both the teachers and the children. The teachers have said that the project provides a good range of activities to cover all groups, providing new knowledge and understanding in a fun and enjoyable way. Several teachers were very positive about the need for children to employ new thinking skills in order to make the links between Ancient Egyptian and modern mathematics. Some of the teachers have built on the knowledge that Swansea has been able to provide, extending the ideas in the classroom.
The children have also been very positive in their comments, enjoying the process of learning, and finding the way in which Egyptians conducted mathematics an easy way into what many find to be a boring and sometimes difficult subject.
Wendy Goodridge
Assistant Curator, The Egypt Centre
http://www.egypt.swansea.ac.uk/
Image Credits
All images are Copyright The Egypt Centre, Swansea, with thanks for permission to use them.