Elizabeth Lay, Claire Steffen and I had the opportunity to present a webinar through the Texas Historical Commission today. We discussed ways that museums can enhance visitor experiences with math, showed a variety of examples of math activities at museum locations and talked about our process in developing connected activities. Our Presentation Slides are here The Handout Recording Hosted by
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Genaille-Lucas Rulers are pretty cool. They are a clever calculator that you can use to multiply some pretty big numbers. MathHappens summer staff member Anh Nguyen made a colorful set from scratch in Corel Draw that you can download and print on a laser or inkjet printer. Feel free to copy, explore, and use. It’s a great project to try
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Here’s an excerpt of a twitter conversation. Day before yesterday Aida wrote to get access to some of our files and ideas. Yesterday she made this amazing version of Napiers Bones that is in the National Archeological Museum in Madrid. Today I’m inspired by her project and want to know more about this version and I want to see that
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Stick Stock (Surveyors in Texas before Annexation to the U.S.), ca. 1845, oil on canvas, 14in. x 17 in. framed, Lent by Larry Sheerin, L.2012.2.3 MathHappens is sharing ways that a mathematical device, the survey Chain measurement system invented by Edmund Gunter in the 1600s impacted Texas history as we transitioned- only sort of — from the Mexican Vara
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In this photo Ximena Mercado Garcia has items from each Museum Day math station on the table to share with Univision and their viewers. Las matemáticas también pueden ser divertidas. ¡Únete y descúbrelo tu mismo! Sarah Bacca is sending this note with all the details to teachers, principals and schools. We hope everyone gets the word! Dear Math Enthusiasts,
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At the Showcase you can meet Elizabeth Lay, MathHappens’ Program Manager who is developing an innovative new unit. MathHappens has obtained an original manuscript written by Texas surveyor Robert Creuzbauer that details a dual system of land measurement standards unique to Texas. The new unit will connect Texas History and Mathematics curricula addressing TEKS for both math and history.
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We are very excited to have a real Vara Chain! To relive the suspenseful opening of the box, check out these 1, 2, 3 riveting videos. Or just zoom in on the letter and read it : )
We had displays on Karen Uhlenbenk, Mary Boole, and Marjorie Rice. Some people wanted to see a Voronoi pattern in a dragonfly wing, others designed and colored Marjorie Rice’s Pentagon # 13 and others were fascinated by Mary Boole’s Curve Stitching.
Pioneer Farms presented the Golden Ratio to visitors along with information about prairie animals. From Claire Steffen: I wanted to let you know that people really enjoyed learning about the golden ratio on Saturday. I had one woman remark– “I’m 42, how did I not know about this?” Another man was very interested and when we were done, went to
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Mike Bailey of the Brazoria County Historical Museum provided us this photo. He is using our model Gunner’s Quadrant with a cannon there at the Museum. We based our model on the one seen above in an article on Nicholas Tartaglia, the inventor of ballistics. https://www.famousscientists.org/niccolo-tartaglia/