Bazin, Maurice, Tamez, Modesto, and the Exploratorium Teacher Institute. Math and science across cultures.

New Press. 176p. illus. bibliog. c2002. 1-56584-541-2. $19.95.

This book is predicated on the view that mathematics and science education in the U.S. would benefit from an increase in exposure to cultures other than Western European. It aims to be a resource for teachers of students age 10 and above, providing lessons and activities that relate to mathematics and science but are set in cultures from around the globe. The activities, developed with support from the National Science Foundation and in collaboration with the Exploratorium Teacher Institute, are inquiry-based and hands-on, generally requiring two or more hours for all of the parts of an activity.

In some cases the topics relate directly to mathematics and science in other cultures, such as the chapter on counting systems and calendars. These topics also add an element of archaeology to the math being studied. Other activities develop ideas about a science or math topic in a non-Western cultural setting, but are not specifically related to the math and science of that culture. For example, the second activity explores the math and physics of music, but uses the Brazilian cuica as the musical instrument to study. All of the activities are active and hands-on, involving building something, doing experiments, or exploring patterns in drawings and sets of numbers. I recommend this book to teachers who are looking for fun learning activities that go beyond the typical context-free problems and Western cultural orientation of many textbooks, and who can arrange for the time involved to prepare for and do these activities. Thomas S. Downey, Teacher, Rivers School, Weston, MA