Making Math Make Sense

"Well, it can be an angle or a vector" declared one of the students I came upon working outside in Mrs. Giancola's math class. She held up a branch and pointed out how it fit the definition of both of these mathematical terms.

"What's the point of this lesson?," I asked, in order to get a sense of the rigor of this class.

"We are looking for examples of our math vocabulary in nature."

"Why?"

"So we can understand it better. Math is not just in the classroom, it's all around us."