Geometry on the seafloor of Japan

I think it is very important to change the students' conception of mathematics, in this case, more specifically, of geometry.

In the first post of the blog spoke for example about the geometric art that Muslims did hundreds of years ago, which I think is fascinating and can motivate students a lot and gives us the opportunity to relate this subject to art by means of the realization of geometric mosaics, but in this case students could continue to see it as a "human invention" that escapes their understanding or that they have no value for their lives, so in this post I would like to teach children that geometry is not something that belongs only to humans.

First I would try to ask them about several things to see if they ever think they have seen geometry outside of school, to see if any of the ideas come up. In addition it is always good to take into account the previous ideas of the students to have a starting point for meaningful learning.

From there I would start to tell you that even the plants, those beings that seem to do nothing, is constantly repeating the geometry, so I would teach a series of images to see and comment on those images.

Next we would go to analyze the animals and how is their behavior in terms of geometry, asking them first if any one occurs to them. Then I would show you several images that clearly show the geometry they create, as it can be one of the clearest cases: the panels of bees.

To conclude this session I would teach you one of the most curious cases that I have found, which is a small puffer fish of which he was not known until recently his incredible artistic ability.

In 1995 it appeared almost 30 meters deep on the seabed off the coast of southern Japan, in the warm waters of the island of Amami Ōshima, a circular structure about two meters in diameter.

Whenever the divers of the area were submerged they found these strange drawings in different areas of the seabed, which was a mystery until in 2011 it was discovered that it was the work of a small puffer fish of about 12 cm long.

As it turns out, they are nothing more than nests that build by flapping their fins, for even more than a week, with the aim of attracting the females and getting them to lay their eggs on it.

Finally I would teach them the video of how they do it and invite them to think about an activity in which they have to look for work groups an animal and a plant that have relation with the geometry so they would learn as much of mathematics as of sciences of nature.