MathHappens @ the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota!

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Events, Math Rooms, Museum, Schools, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

Now open!  As of today, MathHappens has a math engagement/play space in the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota.  This is a beautiful museum that contains original exhibits designed to connect to every day life in and around Mankato, MN.  From corn ears to play pigs, the museum provides the kind of hands-on play-based learning that we love.  Play spaces abound

Make Education Forum 2023 Presentation: Avoiding scorch using two sided laser cutting.

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Laser Techniques, Making Math, Sharing IdeasLeave a Comment

The first 3 puzzle pieces are cut from one side using the low speed and a high power needed to cut through 1/4″ plywood.  The black scorch has to be sanded or wiped away adding significantly to post laser treatments.    One approach if your laser is not cutting through is to run a second pass.  This results in more

STEME Conference Presentation by Texas State University/Breakthrough Summer Interns

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Community Partnerships, Conference Presentations, Math Rooms, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

This summer, four students from Texas State University and the Breakthrough Central Texas program, Alexa Hernandez-Lopez (Biology), Jaiden Suda (Marketing), Dayanara Renteria (Biology), and Kriti Magar (Nursing), joined MathHappens for a summer internship program. Over the course of the summer, these students had the opportunity to engage in multiple aspects of the MathHappens internship experience. Aspects of the internship included,

AISD Austin High Math Department Offsite at Pearl St. HQ

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Events, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

Matt Hertel, Jordan Varat and Tyson Geigenmiller hosted Ms. Mardi Nott’s Austin High math department offsite meeting.  The AISD math teachers toured our facility and learned about our laser and how we use technology to create physical math models that promote math literacy. The teachers left with new ideas on how to communicate math effectively and with new models to

Partner Spotlight: Seattle Universal Math Museum Outreach

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Community Partnerships, Events, Making Math, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

We have been sharing ideas, materials, CAD files and finished models with a variety of partners.  The folks at SUMM, the Seattle Universal Math Museum has been bringing math activities to the greater Seattle area as well as attending teaching conferences and hosting events.  These photos are exciting for us because SUMM partnered with a local makerspace, sourced and manufactured

Its open! MathHappens @ The Millenium Youth Entertainment Complex

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Parks & Recreation, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

What and who is at the Millenium Math Area? MathHappens Team:  Alexa Hernandez-Lopez, Jaiden Suda, Kriti Magar, and Dayanara Renteria launched this space with mentor Matt Hertel.  All our staff are taking spots in the rotation. We also feature a carpet to play with a Jumbo Blocks Jr. set, a Julia Robinson Math Festival maze mat, optical illusions for photos,

On the road: Pflugerville Makerpfest

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Events, Intern Experience, Library, Making Math, Public Libraries, Ways to like math, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

Melissa Wilkinson and Megan Do were at the  Pflugerville Public Library Maker Pfest Event  June 3rd  to share some of our favorite maker projects, including the brand new Spectre tile, puzzle a day, egg tangrams, cars with unusual wheels and more with this community just north of Austin.  Unlike the old “new” tile, this one tessellates without a pattern and

Take and Make: The new Spectre Tiles for Math Teacher’s Circle of Austin

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Events, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

Professor Jennifer Austin hosts this great group and some of our favorite friends were in attendance.  The plan was to have teachers put together a tabletop magnetic whiteboard display of the Einstien or Hat Tile discovered in March this year, but …. Surprise! another tile, called the Spectre that does not have to be reflected to tessellate was discovered just

MathHappens @ Los Angeles Maker Faire

Lauren SiegelCommunity, Events, Intern Experience, Making Math, Mathematical Artifacts, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

April 1st, 2023 We staffed a booth at Maker Faire Los Angeles.  We brought some of our favorite models, activities and giveaways and we were also able to bring the brand new Hat Tile or Mono Tile newly discovered by an amateur mathematician. Intern Ella Basken made the trip and did an outstanding  job representing with the team.  Read Ella’s