We welcomed the Math Teacher’s Circle of Austin to our Austin location and workshop on Pearl Street Thursday September 28th. They brought the food (BBQ) and we brought knots, and knot tiles. The visit included a workshop tour that included 3d printing, laser cutting pythagorean dissections and more. Thanks to Megan Do who designed the knot tiles, Ella Basken who
…
Houston Science Festival: Mathematical Origami
On September 10, Jordan Varat and Stefany Espinoza hosted a table at the Houston Science Festival , an event co-sponsored by Bridges to Science that has the tag line “Casa to College”, because it is a celebration of Hispanic culture and learning at home designed for home educated 5th-12th grade students and their parents. We are really pleased to contribute
…
Take and Make: Smarty Cat
Smarty Cat was a toy from the 1950s. It’s not really a slide rule, but it does show you all the math facts from 2×2 to 9×9. As you go you need fewer and fewer numbers because 9×2 is already in as 2×9 for example. We are giving away sets where you can draw your own cat/mouse/ghost or whatever animal
…
2023 Construct 3d Conference Team: Ella Basken and Jordan Varat
Update: Ella Basken created this Presi slideshow of her conference experience. Its great! At the Construct 3d 2023 conference in NY Ella and Jordan are presenting a variety of models and a poster about the use of these models to enhance mathematics education. You can contact Ella at: ebasken@utexas.edu and Jordan at: jordan@varatenterprises.com Ella is our 3d print expert and
…
Professional Development: Bullock Field Trip and Workshop Visit
We had a great visit to the Pearl Street workshop and gallery today by professor Dawn Kidd, an Adjunct Instructor at Lamar University. Her students are preservice teachers who will be teaching deaf and hard of hearing students. They started with a workshop visit with Jordan where they learned how to make a heart – square- circle dissection model. Ella
…
On the road: Pflugerville Makerpfest
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
…
Field Trip: Austin High Biomimicry Cross Curricular Program
We had the pleasure of providing 3 of 6 rotations for this field trip for 150 students to the Austin Nature and Science Center. Students are learning about biomimicry. That is looking to strategies and physical formations in nature to develop ideas for engineering and invention in the man made world. Station 1: Voronoi Regions in turtle shells, dragonfly wings,
…
MathHappens @ Los Angeles Maker Faire
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
…
Cedar Creek STEAM Day
It was great to return to Cedar Creek Elementary March 3, one year later with Matt Hertel, Megan Do, and Quan Nguyen. The students do all of their math work on iPads and lessons are taught on a smart board so we were excited to bring them some physical activities. Fourth graders had a chance to explore the 21st Century
…
2023 MathHappens @ STEM UT Girl Day!
MVP Mason Chng and event dream team: Stefany Espinoza, Megan Do, Ella Basken, Laura Choi, Naila Hajiyeva spent the day on the 2nd floor of Wel on the University of Texas Campus for STEM Girl Day. Mason has been preparing the activity for Girl Day for months in and between our other projects, and the whole MathHappens Team pitched in.
…