Show Me Your Math

Connecting Math to Our Lives and Communities

Show Me Your Math

Mawkina’masultinej! Let’s Learn Together! Quill Work

Inquiry Into Quill Work

IMGP3210The late Dianne Toney was a Mi’kmaw elder who made quill boxes.  During a conversation with her about mathematics in the Mi’kmaw community, she explained that she made quill boxes by beginning with a circle top and starting her pattern in the centre.  She then explained that she  made the ring for the top from strips of wood.  To ensure the ring was the right size, Dianne said she would measure three times across the circular top and add a thumb.  She claimed this would make a perfect ring every time.  The following inquiry units focus on the mathematics of quill boxes. 

What is Inquiry?

quillchairInquiry is the result of human beings’ wonderings and curiosities about the natural or constructed world (Barell, 2008; Krauss, 2013). Our natural inquisitiveness is the driving force to ask questions and formulate means of authentic learning, and it is this inquisitiveness and passion that moves us forward (Krauss, 2013; The National Science Foundation, ND; Pahomov, 2014) and pushes our ability to think in critical, creative and divergent ways (Bateman, 1990; Krauss, 2013). IBL is a student-centred learning process that emphasizes the importance of motivating students to engage in and learn through the process of purposeful experiential investigations and research in order to better understand the world (Abuhimed, Beheshti, Cole, AlGhamdi & Lamoureux, 2013; Galileo Educational Network, 1999-2014; Kanter & Konstantopoulos, 2010; Prince, 2004; Rusche & Jason, 2011). Inquiry invites children to explore questions of interest to them related to a given topic. Through inquiry, students can cover a large number of curriculum outcomes through authentically exploring a topic of relevance to them.

Why Inquire into Quill Work?

oldquillbasketsIn addition to Dianne’s story of three and a thumb, quill work also provides students with an opportunity to explore the role of measurement, geometry, and patterns. The art of finding the bark, forming the box, collecting the quills, creating the designs, and completing the artwork with the quills is quickly being lost to history. Embedded within this art form, however, is not only a rich culture but also a rich understanding of mathematics from an Aboriginal cultural perspective. By allowing students to partake in creating Quill Boxes and Quill designs, and allowing them to interact with mathematics in a culturally relevant manner, students may be better able to understand and apply mathematics in their own life.

How do I Connect this to Curriculum?

Teachers are encouraged to use the Inquiry Project Details below for the appropriate grade. These projects include links to provincial Mathematics (WNCP), Science, Social, English Language Arts, Mi’kmaq Langauge, and other content area outcomes. These guides also contain examples of essential questions that can be used to start an inquiry project on quill work. There are also suggestions about how the quill work inquiry fits within various units within the curricula.

  • Quill Boxes: Grade 7(coming soon)
  • Quill work grade 3 (coming soon)
  • Quill work Grade 4 (coming soon)

Resources and Links for Quill Work

Books relating to Quill Boxes, Quill work, designs and Dyes:

  • Whitehead, Ruth Holmes. Mi’kmaq Quillwork: Micmac Indian Techniques of Porcupine Quill Decoration: 1600-1950. Halifax, Nova Scotia: The Nova Scotia Museum, 1982. Print.
  • Mi’kmaq Hieroglyphic Prayers: Readings in North America’s First Indigenous Script. Ed: David L. Schmidt and Murdena Marshall. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Nimbus Publishing, 1995. Print.
  • Wallis, Wilson D., and Ruth Sawtell Wallis. “Basketry.” The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada. Minnesota, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 71-75. Print.
  • Wallis, Wilson D., and Ruth Sawtell Wallis. “Dyes.” The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada. Minnesota, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 87-89. Print.
  • Wallis, Wilson D., and Ruth Sawtell Wallis. “Moose-Hair and Quill Work.” The Micmac Indians of Eastern Canada. Minnesota, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 89-92. Print.

Perspective piece on using quills today:

Images of Quill Boxes:

Information about Quill Boxes / Quill work

Relating to how to make Quill Boxes

Present day making of Quill Boxes: