Math of the Civil War

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To prepare students for state tests, I’ve sometimes been asked to work some math work  into my Civil War presentation. Here is the sheet I used at a school I visited last year. Feel free to copy, print, and use it as long as you give me and this site credit.

MATH OF THE CIVIL WAR

1. This site (Create for Mississippi) is rich with handouts and ideas related to math and math exercises for the Civil War.  The site has word problems, models, and ideas.
http://www.create.cett.msstate.edu/create/classroom/lplan_view.asp?articleID=14
2. From Education World Students prepare foods, including hardtack, that were among the staples of a Civil War soldier’s diet. Objectives Students follow recipes to create foods that were common foods of the Civil War era. http://www.education-world.com/a_lesson/00-2/lp2001.shtml
3. Civil War Math (Symmetry)  Homepage (Gettysburg, Pa) http://192.107.108.56/portfolios/b/burkel_d/Tools%20Dev%20Instruction/Final_Project/Civil_War_Symmetry_Activity/Symmetry_index.htm
Topics of exercises and activities include timelines, Morse code, percent of change and symmetry.  Addresses standards such as:
(GEOMETRY AND MEASUREMENT) ALL STUDENTS WILL DEVELOP SPATIAL SENSE AND THE ABILITY TO USE GEOMETRIC PROPERTIES, RELATIONSHIPS, AND MEASUREMENT TO MODEL, DESCRIBE AND ANALYZE PHENOMENA.
STANDARD 4.5 (MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES) ALL STUDENTS WILL USE MATHEMATICAL PROCESSES OF PROBLEM SOLVING, COMMUNICATION, CONNECTIONS, REASONING, REPRESENTATIONS, AND TECHNOLOGY TO SOLVE PROBLEMS AND COMMUNICATE MATHEMATICAL IDEAS.
4. Georgia State Parks:  There are some mathematics activities listed on this site: http://www.gastateparks.org/net/content/item.aspx?mode=p&s=121480.0.1.5
5. Civil War Artillery Projectiles http://civilwarartillery.com/
All kinds of charts and technical information related to the physic of artillery. For a list of other projectile oriented sites and physics see also: http://www.bigado.com/mn1website/search.php?Search=SEARCH!&q=projectiles
6. Civil War Signal  & Telegraph Corps http://www.civilwarsignal.org/

2 thoughts on “Math of the Civil War”

  1. I think this is a great idea to incorporate math into history. Not only is the students learning math concepts but it is also bringing the history to life. As a student, I love to do hands on stuff and learn on my own by researching, so all the researching the students have to do is great. Bringing in all the technology is also wonderful because this world is becoming more and more technology oriented.

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