STANDARDS
Below, you will find specific national standards used in this program for both math and dance. The power of Math in Your Feet, however, is in the intersections where math and dance meet. Here is a description of the BIG PICTURE that creates the relevance and meaning for students as they work through the program.
MATH
The Math in Your Feet curriculum was created in collaboration with a math education specialist and is rigorously based guidelines set out by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in Principals and Standards for School Mathematics upon which many state math standards are based. These standards describe math content both in the dance class and in the program's Student Workbook:
Reasoning and Proof (Grades 3-5)
- Recognize reasoning and proof as fundamental aspects of mathematics.
- Make and investigate mathematical conjectures.
- Develop and evaluate mathematical arguments and proofs.
- Select and use various types of reasoning and methods of proof.
Communication (Grades 3-5)
- Organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking through communication.
- Communicate their mathematical thinking coherently and clearly to peers, teachers, and others.
- Analyze and evaluate the mathematical thinking and strategies of others.
- Use the language of mathematics to express mathematical ideas precisely.
Problem Solving (Grades 3-5)
- Build new mathematical knowledge through problem solving.
- Solve problems that arise in mathematics and in other contexts.
- Apply and adapt a variety of appropriate strategies to solve problems.
- Monitor and reflect on the process of mathematical problem solving.
Geometry (Grades 3-5)
- Predict and describe the results of sliding, flipping, and turning two dimensional shapes.
- Identify and describe line and rotational symmetry in two-and three-dimensional shapes and designs.
- Recognize geometric ideas and relationships and apply them to other disciplines and to problems that arise in the classroom or in everyday life.
- Describe location and movement using common language and geometric vocabulary.
- Make and use coordinate systems to specify locations and to describe paths.
Algebra (Grades 3-5)
- Describe, extend, and make generalizations about geometric and numeric patterns.
- Represent and analyze patterns and functions, using words, tables, and graphs.
Connections (Grades 3-5)
- Recognize and apply mathematics in contexts outside of mathematics.
- Understand how mathematical ideas interconnect and build on one another to produce a coherent whole.
- Recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas.
DANCE
National Standards for Dance Education, Developed by the National Dance Association, a member of The Consortium of National Arts Education Associations. The following Content and Achievement Standards are covered in Math In Your Feet. Content Standards are listed first, with the relevant Achievement Standards for grades K-4 and 5-8 bulleted below.
#1. Identifying and demonstrating movement elements and skills in performing dance.
- Accurately demonstrate eight basic locomotor movements (such as walk, run, hop, jump, leap, gallop, slide, and skip) traveling forward, backward, sideward, diagonally, and turning.
- Demonstrate the ability to define and maintain personal space;
- Demonstrate accuracy in moving to a musical beat and responding to changes in tempo;
- Demonstrate kinesthetic awareness, concentration, and focus in performing movement skills;
- Attentively and accurately describe the action and movement elements in a brief movement study.
- Accurately identify and demonstrate basic dance steps, positions, and patterns for dance from two different styles or traditions;
- Accurately transfer a spatial pattern from the visual to the kinesthetic;
- Accurately transfer a rhythmic pattern from the aural to the kinesthetic;
- Demonstrate accurate memorization and reproduction of movement sequences;
- Describe the action and movement elements observed in a dance, using appropriate movement/dance vocabulary.
#2. Understanding choreographic principals, processes, and structures.
- Create a sequence with a beginning, middle, and end, both with and without a rhythmic accompaniment; identify each of these parts of the sequence.
- Improvise, create, and perform dances based on their own ideas and concepts from other sources;
- Use improvisation to discover and invent movement and to solve movement problems;
- Create a dance phrase, accurately repeat it, and then vary it (making changes in the time, space and/or force/energy);
- Demonstrate the ability to work effectively alone and with a partner;Demonstrate the following partner skills: copying, leading and following, mirroring;
- Successfully demonstrate the structures or forms of AB, ABA, canon, call and response, and narrative;
- Demonstrate the ability to work cooperatively in a small group during the choreographic process.
#3. Understanding dance as a way to create and communicate meaning.
- Take an active role in a class discussion about interpretations of and reactions to a dance;
- Present their own dances to peers and discuss their meanings with competence and confidence.
#4. Applying and demonstrating critical and creative thinking skills in dance.
- Explore, discover, and realize multiple solutions to a given movement problem; choose their favorite solution and discuss the reasons for that choice;
- Demonstrate appropriate audience behavior in watching dance performances; discuss their opinions about the dances with their peers in a supportive and constructive way.
#5. Demonstrating and understanding dance in various cultures and historical periods.
- Perform folk dances from various cultures with competence and confidence;
- Accurately answer questions about dance in a particular culture and time period;
- Competently perform folk and/or classical dances from various cultures; describe similarities and differences in steps and movement styles.
#7. Making connections between dance and other disciplines.
- Create a dance project that reveals understanding of a concept or an idea from another discipline (such as a pattern in dance and science);
- Site examples of concepts used in dance and another discipline (such as balance, shape, pattern).