BACK TO ESSAYS
Quilts and Mathematics in Education
The quilts presented here range from 19th century to contemporary, and mostly feature shapes that would work well with use in the elementary mathematics classroom. It is both for their geometry and their warmth and approachability that quilts have also been used extensively in K-16 mathematical education. Math teachers who also quilt abound.
A great source for mathematical quilts for educational uses is Diana Venters and Elaine Krajenke Ellison’s Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! (1999) and More Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! (2003). Mathematical concepts demonstrated through quilts in these books include the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Sequence, spirals, tessellations, fractals, right triangles and the Pythagorean theorem, and many other ideas.
While Venters and Krajenke’s books are excellent, even today, many curricular materials that aim to engage girls with mathematics through quilts and other textiles are unsuccessful. According to Mary Harris, author of Common Threads: Women, Mathematics and Work:
They [publications which appear to aim to link textiles and mathematics] fail because they maintain the stereotype of textiles work as something without intellect, upon which mathematics can be imposed thereby giving it value it did not previously have. Such work contains no recognition of any inherent mathematics in the making or the use of the textiles and the message that mathematics is something separate and superior to the textiles activity is usually clear. Such publications often sell themselves as ‘girl-friendly’ with the gendered and patronising message along the lines of ‘Look girls, here is something serious you can do with your pretty stuff.’ (Harris, 111)
In using quilts in the classroom, mathematics educators must condemn, rather than promote, gender stereotypes that function to distance women from the sphere of math and technology.
Resources:
Belcastro, Sarah Marie and Carolyn Yackel. Making Mathematics with Needlework. A. K. Peters, 2007.
Harris, Mary. Common Threads: Women, Mathematics and Work. Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham Books, 1997.
Venters, Diana and Elaine Krajenke Ellison. Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! San Francisco, Key Curriculum Press, 1999.
Venters, Diana and Elaine Krajenke Ellison. More Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! San Francisco: Key Curriculum Press, 2003.
Resources:
Belcastro, Sarah Marie and Carolyn Yackel. Making Mathematics with Needlework. A. K. Peters, 2007.
Harris, Mary. Common Threads: Women, Mathematics and Work. Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham Books, 1997.
Venters, Diana and Elaine Krajenke Ellison. Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! San Francisco, Key Curriculum Press, 1999.
Venters, Diana and Elaine Krajenke Ellison. More Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! San Francisco: Key Curriculum Press, 2003.
A great source for mathematical quilts for educational uses is Diana Venters and Elaine Krajenke Ellison’s Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! (1999) and More Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! (2003). Mathematical concepts demonstrated through quilts in these books include the Golden Ratio and Fibonacci Sequence, spirals, tessellations, fractals, right triangles and the Pythagorean theorem, and many other ideas.
While Venters and Krajenke’s books are excellent, even today, many curricular materials that aim to engage girls with mathematics through quilts and other textiles are unsuccessful. According to Mary Harris, author of Common Threads: Women, Mathematics and Work:
They [publications which appear to aim to link textiles and mathematics] fail because they maintain the stereotype of textiles work as something without intellect, upon which mathematics can be imposed thereby giving it value it did not previously have. Such work contains no recognition of any inherent mathematics in the making or the use of the textiles and the message that mathematics is something separate and superior to the textiles activity is usually clear. Such publications often sell themselves as ‘girl-friendly’ with the gendered and patronising message along the lines of ‘Look girls, here is something serious you can do with your pretty stuff.’ (Harris, 111)
In using quilts in the classroom, mathematics educators must condemn, rather than promote, gender stereotypes that function to distance women from the sphere of math and technology.
Resources:
Belcastro, Sarah Marie and Carolyn Yackel. Making Mathematics with Needlework. A. K. Peters, 2007.
Harris, Mary. Common Threads: Women, Mathematics and Work. Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham Books, 1997.
Venters, Diana and Elaine Krajenke Ellison. Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! San Francisco, Key Curriculum Press, 1999.
Venters, Diana and Elaine Krajenke Ellison. More Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! San Francisco: Key Curriculum Press, 2003.
Resources:
Belcastro, Sarah Marie and Carolyn Yackel. Making Mathematics with Needlework. A. K. Peters, 2007.
Harris, Mary. Common Threads: Women, Mathematics and Work. Stoke on Trent, UK: Trentham Books, 1997.
Venters, Diana and Elaine Krajenke Ellison. Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! San Francisco, Key Curriculum Press, 1999.
Venters, Diana and Elaine Krajenke Ellison. More Mathematical Quilts: No Sewing Required! San Francisco: Key Curriculum Press, 2003.
-
Museum
DAR Museum DAR Museum
-
Museum
Michigan State University Museum Michigan Quilt Project
-
Documentation Project
Louisiana Quilt Documentation Project Louisiana Regional Folklife Program
-
Documentation Project
Michigan Quilt Project Michigan State University
-
Museum
National Quilt Museum -
Documentation Project
Connecticut Quilt Search -
Documentation Project
Massachusetts Quilt Documentation Project, MassQuilts New England Quilt Museum
-
ca.1840
Mathematical Star... Woodward, Frances B...
-
ca. 1880
Mariner's Compass... Decker, Sarah Seymo...
-
1993
Charm Quilt Hannan, Mary Sue
-
Grandmother's Flo... Epperson, Babs Titt...
-
1909
Hexagons Haynes, Sarah A.
-
1999
Kaleidoscope Chal... McCormick, Stephani...
-
1985
Blue Jeans Quilt VanDenburg, Jane Is...
-
Basic Squares Dison, Barbara
-
2008
Blushing Triangle... Hansen, Gloria
-
2004
Almost Amish Werner, Jane
-
Triangles Dison, Barbara
-
1876-1900
Triangles -
1876-1900
Pieced Arrows
Load More
