Introduction Activites for Birch Bark Biting

by Jessica Wesaquate and Andrea Rogers

Engage (Set) Activities:

Encourage students to work in groups, then share with the class. This will foster more of an Aboriginal approach to teaching/learning.

• Blow-up copies of birch bark biting as visuals; students can volunteer to use their fingertip (or ruler, meter stick) to show where the lines of symmetry are.
• Have samples of birch bark biting that you can pass around the class for the students to see (adapts to the senses, allows them to feel, see, smell)
• In a web, or general discussion, have students brainstorm what symmetry, and lines of symmetry are.  Students can work in groups to create their own definitions.  Then give formal definitions, and explain.
• Where do we see symmetry in the classroom?  Go outside, where does mother nature provide us with symmetry, how do we know it is symmetrical? Students can collect symmetrical items from nature and display them around the classroom, store them in a scrapbook, or even make a classroom mural of symmetry.
• Where do we see symmetry in other Aboriginal art forms? Provide physical or visual examples of other Aboriginal art forms where symmetry is evident (Star blankets, moccasins, beadwork, Métis flower beadwork).  Students can work in groups to discuss the symmetry that they see.

Aboriginal Perspectives is supported by the University of Regina, the Imperial Oil Foundation, the Canadian Mathematical Society and the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences.