Daddy was a farm boy who ended up a thermonuclear physicist. I do not like numbers, but math without numbers is easy. Logic, making triangles congruent, seeing patterns, noticing differences, Easy peasy. My kids aren't any better with numbers, but they had calculators, so my daughter is an engineer, and my son was a math major, and the younger son studied chemical engineering.
I have watched beginning lace students work so hard wrapping their brains around the movement of the threads. I think lacemaking the way it is done today, not as a moneymaking endeavor but a pastime cum exercise, attracts people with minds with certain skills related to mathematics, not arithmetic. I also suspect that lacemaking can do something to develop those skills. I have tried to figure out a way to teach girls lacemaking in order to develop the mathematical abilities boys develop in 'manly' ways. We don't usually give girls chemistry sets, or erector sets, or crystal radio kits. Lacemaking is a girly thing, as it is presently done, and thus would be acceptable to grade school girls who are intent on being girls. Problem is, there is no proof learning to make bobbin lace helps to develop a mathematical mind. It seems logical from what I have observed about myself and about other lacemakers, but that would not be persuasive to teachers. I was amazed when I notic! ed all the mathematically inclined who took to bobbin lace. Lyn from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, USA "My email sends out an automatic message. Arachne members, please ignore it. I read your emails." - To unsubscribe send email to [email protected] containing the line: unsubscribe lace [email protected]. For help, write to [email protected]. Photo site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lacemaker/sets/
