Writing to Learn Math: What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words. Do you agree or disagree? Why?

Do you want your children to develop the ability to reason creatively and figure out things on their own?

Help kids practice slowing down and taking the time to fully comprehend a math topic or problem-solving situation with these classic tools of learning: Notice. Wonder. Create.

Notice: Look carefully at the details of the numbers, shapes, or patterns you see. What are their attributes? How do they relate to each other? Also notice the details of your own mathematical thinking. How do you respond to a tough problem? Which responses are most helpful? Where did you get confused, or what makes you feel discouraged?

Wonder: Ask the journalist’s questions: who, what, where, when, why, and how? Who might need to know about this topic? Where might we see it in the real world? When would things happen this way? What other way might they happen? Why? What if we changed the situation? How might we change it? What would happen then? How might we figure it out?

Create: Create a description, summary, or explanation of what you learned. Make your own related math puzzle, problem, art, poetry, story, game, etc. Or create something totally unrelated, whatever idea may have sparked in your mind.

Math journaling may seem to focus on this third tool, creation. But even with artistic design prompts, we need the first two tools because they lay a solid groundwork to support the child’s imagination.

How To Use a Quotation Prompt

Let students choose how they want to react to the quotation. Or offer one of the following questions:

• What did the author mean? Put the thought in your own words.
• Do you agree or disagree? If you agree, can you think of someone who would disagree? Why?
• Is this quote a general principle, or only for specific situations? Describe a time when it might apply, or when it might not.
• Tell a time in your life when you lived up to the quotation — or when you wish you had.
• How does the quote relate to math, science, history, or another subject?

Short exercises are great writing practice. But occasionally you’ll want to assign deeper essay topics, such as:

• Look up the author’s name online. Who are/were they, and why do people care what they said?
• Quotes are often misattributed. Did the author really say this?
• What have others said about the same topic? Search out a variety of quotes related to this one. How are they similar? How are they different?
• Does thinking about the quotation make you want to change anything, in yourself or in the world? How could you put that idea into action?

Quotation from Rene Descartes

Mathematics is a more powerful instrument of knowledge than any other that has been bequeathed to us by human agency.

—Rene Descartes

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This is an excerpt from Reflections on Mathematics 1: 28 Quotation Cards. Discover more of my books, printable activities, and cool mathy merchandise at Denise Gaskins’ Playful Math Store.

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“Thinking Thursday: Rene Descartes” copyright © 2025 by Denise Gaskins. Image at the top of the post copyright © 4masik / Depositphotos.