Primary Source Learning: Math Activities That Add Up

Integrating primary sources into the social studies curriculum doesn’t take a quantum leap of imagination, but can you imagine how they could be paired with math? Numerous teachers who have gone through Teaching with Primary Sources programs delivered by TPS consortium members, have done just that. Intrigued? Check out their formulas for mathematical learning by reviewing the resources listed below. Thanks to Dr. Lucianne Brown, former Director of Governors State University TPS program, who helped source some of these primary source math teaching resources.

Math & Civics integrated lessons

Lessons & Activities

Arithmetic to Mathematics: A Look Back
Battle of Nashville 1864 (map)
Bridge Discovery
Charts & Graphs primary source set with teacher’s guide
Diagramming the Federal Government
Form & Function guided primary source analysis
Finding the Area and Volume of Buildings Using Architectural Drawings
Huexotzinco Codex using an Aztec manuscript to learn math & history
Johannes Kepler and COVID-19: 400 Years of Mathematical Modeling Library of Congress Blog August 24, 2020
Learning Decimals and Fractions with a 19th-century Currency Table
Learning from the Source: Abraham Lincoln & Me Activity Book
Leonardo’s Workshop: The Invention, Art and Science of Leonardo da Vinci
Lincoln The Road To Math This Century
Making Myriopticons
Past and Present: Using Baseball Statistics to Teach Math (student worksheet)
Primary Source Trail of Western Migration
Voting
Why do we use quilts?
Women own about one percent of world’s land

Teaching with the Library of Congress blog

Adding Humanity to Math Class October 5, 2021
Changing Historical Perspective with Mathematical Reasoning July 27, 2021
Discovering Mathematical Qualities in Primary Sources from the 1918 Flu Pandemic January 19, 2021
From Flight to Discovery May 30, 2013
It’s Time for History, Math, and Art! May 19, 2022
Mathematics and Misinformation March 10, 2022
Mathematics and Primary Sources
- Data Mining, 1880s Style, Part 1 November 12, 2020
- Data Mining, 1880s Style, Part 2 November 19, 2020
- Finding the Art in Charts from W.E.B. DuBois and Others December 10, 2020
- The Evolving Postal System January 11, 2018
- Historic Codes, Ciphers, and Computational Thinking, Part I March 20, 2018
- Historic Codes, Ciphers, and Computational Thinking, Part II – the Women Codebreakers of WWII April 3, 2018
- In Search of the Perfect Calendar May 7, 2019
- The Many Faces of Baseball October 11, 2018
- Measurement, History, and the English Language November 30, 2017
- Using Primary Sources: Analyzing Population Pyramids August 10, 2021
Mathematical Rough Drafts and Alexander Graham Bell’s Experimental Notebooks May 11, 2021
Practicing Measurement with Historic Surveying July 16, 2021
Pumpkins, Math, and Primary Sources November 18, 2020
Recognizing the Creativity and Humanity of Mathematics October 19, 2021
The Time they Tried to Legislate Pi March 3, 2020
Thomas Jefferson’s Measurement Problem January 14, 2016
Thomas Jefferson’s Proposed System of Weights and Measures January 7, 2016
Understanding Huge Numbers: If All the Seas Were One Sea… March 17, 2022

Mathematical Games of Martin Gardner

Articles

Celebrating Pi Folklife Today July 22, 2014
The Corpus Agrimensorum, Roman Land Law, and Mathematical Approaches to Archeology In Custodia Legis March 26, 2012
Einstein’s Folklore Folklife Today December 18, 2013
Geography by the Numbers: Staff Member Solves Mystery of Mapping Equations Library of Congress Information Bulletin May 2003
George Washington and the Weaving of American History Library of Congress Blog March 10, 2015
Newly Acquired Arabic Manuscript on Early Astronomy and Mathematics Library of Congress Blog January 13, 2016
Using Primary Source Projects to Teach Mathematics American Mathematical Society On Teaching and Learning Mathematics blog January 20, 2015

Primary sources