This activity begins with Indigenous knowledge of making Mi’kmaw quill boxes. Baskets have been made from porcupine quills in North American Indigenous communities for thousands of years. To make a basket, Mi’kmaw elder Dianne Toney knew that the relationship between the ring (circumference) and the distance across the circle top (diameter) was equivalent to three measures across and a thumb width. Beginning with this story, students discover the relationship commonly referred to as π. It is important to acknowledge that this relationship was known amongst the Mi’kmaq (and likely many other indigenous peoples) long before contact with European settlers.

This task is suitable for students who need to understand pi.

It is available as a Desmos task here or you can find a low-tech PDF here.