The ASTC (Association of Science and Technology Centers) Conference brings together science and childrens museums from all over the US with vendors, service providers and colleagues for lectures, workshops and networking. We had Booth 101, right at the bottom of the escalators and we really enjoyed our time interacting with conference participants as well as the other booth hosts. We
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Museum Day in Austin, Texas happens on the 2nd to the last Sunday in September. Weather is still warm and beautiful, but kids are back in school and families are ready to spend a day laughing and learning together. This year over 35 museums opened their doors offering free admission, special activities and a wonderful day out for the Austin
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Bugfest is the signature annual event for the North Carolina Museum of Natural Science. A special section called The Math Neighborhood was organized by Maria Droujkova. And MathHappens’ own Matt Hertel made the trip to participate in this huge event. Matt brought a selection of MathHappens’ favorite puzzles and activities as well as activities related to bugs, the Butterfly Tessellating
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The Matrix x Imaginary Conference that happens every two years brings together math museums and math outreach organizations and educators from around the world, including Eastern Europe, and Australia. Some of our favorite folks from MoMath, SUMM, and MMACA were there. We had a great time at the talks and in our time manning our display table. After the conference
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Math On-A-Stick is the creation of Christopher Danielson, and as MathHappens Director of Math Play, the work continues! MOAS is a twelve day extravaganza with multiple mathematical delights. Attendance at the fair this year was 1,925,904. Matt brought parts to assemble a mathematical sculpture designed by George Hart.
MAA MathFest 2024 was in Indianapolis, Indiana. MathHappens team includes Lauren Siegel, Ella Basken, Matt Hertel, Austin Bell and not shown, Christopher Danielson and guest teammate Nathan Hall. We had some great conversations about Math Rooms with old friends and new: We gave away over 100 circle area models!. Christopher Danielson got creative with multiple models. He wrote a
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Every year at Math On-A-Stick, we get questions about whether similar events exist at other state fairs, and about what is required to bring this kind of educational play to other fairs. As far as we know, the Minnesota State Fair is the only state fair with a large-scale playful family math event. We have dreamed of supporting others in
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Last month we concluded another successful group of MathHappens Remote internships. We had 4 students participating from UCLA, NC State, Texas Woman’s University, and Queen’s University in Toronto. At our headquarters in Austin we rely on interns to help with our mission and everyday tasks. Interns design and make new models, attend local events, and spend time assembling models to
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Jordan Varat is our Laser Operator and Instructor at MathHappens and works with our laser to achieve maximum quality and efficiency of our prints! Here she writes about a technique she uses to create our butterfly puzzle. Our Marjorie Rice Tessellating Pentagons #9 Butterfly Puzzle is one of our more popular puzzles right now, and it also utilizes a wonderful
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MathHappens offers remote internship experiences to students who do not live near our offices in Austin. Interns are sent a kit in the mail and the goal is for them to learn digital fabrication of math models (usually using a laser cutter or 3D printer), design and make a model, and host an outreach event showcasing their model(s). Emma Starkman,
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