Sealaska Heritage Institute is sponsoring a free workshop for educators on the connection between math and formline design from 5:30-8:30 p.m. Dec. 3-4, and 9:30 a.m.-3:30 p.m. on Dec. 5 at the Walter Soboleff Building.
The class will be taught by master Tsimshian artist David R. Boxley, who worked on the monumental house front in the Walter Soboleff Building. In a statement, SHI said one of the goals of the program is to increase knowledge of teachers in Tlingit cultural traditions, protocols and art and to show how those practices affect mathematical learning.
“We have found that when students learn math through a culturally relevant activity, they get it. The concepts which often seem so abstract become concrete,” SHI president Rosita Worl said. “They are learning and they don’t even know it because they are having fun.”
The workshop is open to art and math educators from the Juneau School District, Hoonah City Schools, Angoon Schools and Hydaburg Schools. A stipend will be paid to participants who complete the three-day course, and SHI will pay travel expenses. The math and culture program, Opening the Gate, is funded through a grant from the Alaska Native Education Program.
Educators who want to participate should contact Jackie Kookesh at jackie.kookesh@sealaska.com.
