Women Mathematicians Activity Pack, Grades 3-5

Six women, from six very different times and places, all changed what mathematics could do. This 30-page Women Mathematicians Activity Pack for Grades 3 to 5 introduces Hypatia of Alexandria, teacher in the ancient world; Ada Lovelace, who published the first computer program; Katherine Johnson, whose flight paths carried NASA missions; Evelyn Boyd Granville, whose programs tracked satellites; Shakuntala Devi, the Human Computer; and Maryam Mirzakhani, the first woman to win the Fields Medal. Each woman gets a short biography with comprehension questions, and a meet-the-mathematicians table opens the pack by asking who was born first, who was born most recently, and which two worked on space travel.

The mathematics in the pack is real and varied. Students measure angles, work with sequences, solve distance, speed, and time problems, explore symmetry, find area and perimeter, and race through a twenty-problem mental math sprint. Puzzles carry the learning further: a code-breaking page, a flight-path grid, a twelve-word word search, and a Who Am I? quiz that asks students to remember one surprising fact from each biography. A drawing activity asks students to create their own symmetric picture with a mirror line, and a timeline page orders the six lives by birth, from earliest to latest.

Complete answer keys cover every keyed activity, including the solved word search grid with every word marked and located. Print-and-go on US Letter paper, black-and-white friendly, with nothing pre-filled on the student pages, it fits math centers, Women's History Month, STEM units, and sub plans.