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Other than Stand And Deliver . . . no clichés, please . . .
I'm looking for some fun movies that are thinly related to math that I can show as rewards or on other occasions, while being able to make a plausible claim that they are related to my curriculum. R-rated movies are not acceptable.
I've already thought of Sneakers. What is Contact rated? I'm thinking it's not appropriate for public school anyway, though, because of the religious overtones.
It doesn't matter how tenuous the link to math is, as long as I can claim it's there.
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. . . and so EG names three interesting, intellectual math-related movies that are also completely inappropriate for showing in school.
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Goodwill Hunting is Rated R. As I said, though, math doesn't have to be in the foreground, as long as I can make some kind of connection.
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And yes, I did originally have a reason why it connected to math... *goes off to find it, as it seems to be lost*
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Donald Duck in Mathmagic Land! I would love to see that again. *grin*
π is awesome. Definitely rent it. But I think it would be inappropiate for public school, too, as there's some religious ties to it.
I.Q. is a charming movie. I quite enjoy it, and I think high schoolers would as well. Oh, and Real Genius is fun, too.
I've been watching "From the Earth to the Moon". I'm trying to remember if any of the episodes where mathematically inclined. Something space related might be good, though. Oo, how about October Sky?
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Pi is one of the best movies ever, but it's R.
[EDIT: I thought I hit enter about 10 minutes ago and then left. When I came back I realizied I hadn't, but it was too late. Icarus had beaten me to the punch by a sizable portion. ]
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We watched Top Gun in my AP Calculus class...granted, the teacher was female and so was most of the class. (That, and it was after the AP test.)
Oh, and Contact is PG.
I once watched a movie in a math class that I can't for the life of me remember the name of... It was about a math teacher (with huge glasses and a comb over ) who brought math to a ghetto urban school and taught all the kids who hated school to love math. Very much connected to math, and it was actually not too bad. Posts: 1635 | Registered: Aug 2002
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In Australia, Goodwill Hunting, A Beautiful Mind and Pi are not rated R. So
And since I'm assuming its a high school math class, I don't see the problem with an M film. We watched Bladerunner in year 7 English, for Pete's Sake.
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The problem with an R film (such as The Matrix ) is that I live in the South, and I will be fired if I show one.
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And, I don't disagree that most high school students are mature enough to watch an R-rated movie, but it might single out a couple students. In my high school career I had many a alternate assignment because I don't see R-rated movies. Once, I had to sit all by myself in a book closet and watch an old black and white version of a movie that the class was watching. It was not so fun...
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But as I said, it's not about whether or not individual students are mature enough, or whether or not I think high school 10th through 12th graders are mature enough. It is simply out of the question. I'd like to watch a movie once in a while to keep the kids motivated and having a positive attitude, but it ain't worth my job.
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A documentary? We have a library for that. I want something that will entertain 15 - 17 year olds.
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Our Calc BC teacher showed is a disney movie about math. It was something like Donald Duck in mathland but not. I can't remember since it was a couple years ago.
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Icarus, how about Phenomenon and K-Pax? Both are PG-13. Each is a bit of a stretch, perhaps, but not much of one, I think. Codes and patterns in the first, astronomy in the second.
As far as the R-rated ones, any possibility of getting your hands on edited-for-TV versions? Or would that not be sufficient?
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The Sting would be a cool movie to watch. It is a classic, but most kids in your class would not have seen it because it was before their time.
It has poker, betting on horses, so some probability related stuff. Also, as a movie made in 1970's, so nothing offensive about it.
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I didn't see K-Pax . . . thanks for the lead. Phenomenon could be pretty cool.
I don't think TV versions of R-rated movies are acceptable. They tend to be legalistic and literalistic about such things. Plus, showing movies recorded off of TV might actually raise other copyright issues.
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I loved The Sting . . . think I could really make the connection? I wonder if the gambling would get me in trouble with the Christians around here. I wonder what it's rated . . .
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Batman Forever, the riddlers clues are number puzzle, just say you are seeing if the students can do complex word problems with extra information (like say an entire movie) without loosing track of the numbers and the objective of the problem.
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According to Netflix, it is rated PG. Aside from its gambling-math connections, it is also a history lesson (takes place during the depression), a morality play (never bet against the house), and a film classic (winner of 7 academy awards). Posts: 4116 | Registered: Apr 2002
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Pool is all geometry and forces. Definite math connection to The Sting.
Robin Williams in Flubber? (PG) As the professor, he explains Newton's Law, and there's lots of math symbols on the chalkboards.
In Big, Tom Hanks explains basic algebra to a kid during the dinner party.
Back to the Future III, Labyrinth, Cocktail, Batman Returns, and The Man Who Knew Too Little (with Bill Murray) all have episodes of juggling, which is a calculus/parabolics tie-in. So did The Princess Bride, which has the extended riff on logical deduction, too. Scent of a Woman has juggling and waltzing (geometry). I haven't checked ratings on these.
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hansen- We watched that movie in my AP Calc test after the test was over. Unfortuanately; it was pretty boring to my class, all of us math geeks, so I doubt Icarus' class would like it.
I second The Sting, that would be sooooo cool to watch in class.
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Apollo 13. The astronauts had to figure out a lot of their ballistics by hand, didn't they? Had they not done so correctly, they would have run out of power and died or burned up on entry and died or hit the ocean too fast and died.
I'm pretty sure that aside from a few naughty words, the film is fairly wholesome.
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Young Einstein with Yahoo Serious. But if you were going to do a movie with Einstein in it, I'd just go with I.Q. anyway.
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I agree with Taberha's suggestion of Little Man Tate. Although some could say the overtone of that entire movie is the struggle of control between the Mom and the Teacher of that math prodigy. My kids liked it the movie, however.
A lot of these movies mentioned aren't exactly "fun" for rewards or relaxing time in the classroom.
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(That, and it was after the AP test.)![[Razz]](tongue.gif)
) who brought math to a ghetto urban school and taught all the kids who hated school to love math. Very much connected to math, and it was actually not too bad. ![[The Wave]](graemlins/thewave.gif)
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