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Published Version (Advanced Access)CC BY-NC-ND V4.0, Open Access
Journal article
Using animal trails to illustrate mathematical functions: from beach bivalves to moth larvae
International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, Vol.Advanced access
2025
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Abstract
Connecting mathematics to real-world examples is considered a valuable and informative way to teach students at various educational levels. Typically, this begins at the earlier levels of education entailing skills such as simple numeracy and shape identification. Nature provides a plethora of examples for mathematics and science educators to explore simple and more complex mathematical concepts and patterns. In this paper, we explore the use of real-life examples found in nature to illustrate a range of shapes/functions. Specifically, we use animal trails formed by a bivalve, polychaete, nematode and moth larvae to illustrate a variety of mathematical functions. These include sinusoidal curves, triangular wave functions, parameterisation of a loopy curve and rose curves.
Details
- Title
- Using animal trails to illustrate mathematical functions: from beach bivalves to moth larvae
- Authors
- Gregory S. Watson (Corresponding Author) - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and EngineeringJolanta A. Watson - University of the Sunshine Coast, Queensland, School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Publication details
- International Journal of Mathematical Education in Science and Technology, Vol.Advanced access
- Publisher
- Taylor & Francis
- DOI
- 10.1080/0020739X.2025.2483487
- ISSN
- 1464-5211; 0020-739X
- Copyright note
- © 2025 The Author(s). Published by Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group. This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives License(http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/), which permits non-commercial re-use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited, and is not altered, transformed, or built upon in any way. The terms on which this article has been published allow the posting of the Accepted Manuscript in a repository by the author(s) or with their consent.
- Data Availability
- The authors confirm that the data supporting the findings of this study are available within the article [and/or] its supplementary materials.
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991127002702621
- Output Type
- Journal article
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