George Washington Carver Museum is hosting Black History Month Kid’s Day on Saturday, February 27th, 2021. They will be hosting the event live via Zoom sessions with special guests and activities. This year’s theme is the Black Family: Representation, Identity, and Diversity. You can RSVP for the event here. MathHappens interns, Viyang Shah and Anh Nguyen, worked together to create
…
Webinar: Making the Most of Math Connections at your Museum or Historical Site
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
…
Take and Make: Genaille-Lucas Rulers
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
…
MathHappens in Nature
We have officially launched our new weekly program at the Austin Nature and Science Center! This program will go from 10am-2pm every Saturday so checkout our Facebook for more information. The room will have rotating puzzles and activities, a shelf full of books for various ages, and something you can make and take home with you! Don’t miss out because
…
Take and Make: Laser cut 3d Tangrams
Viang Shah created his own Corel Draw file to make this design. You are invited to make your own design files or use his which are posted in Corel, AI and SVG formats.
MathHappens in Nature – Another great day!
Nina and I met little people and big people, families and even a Boy Scout Troup on what turned out to be a math field trip from Houston. They designed with tiles, created polygons and pizzas with hinged mirrors, and explored fractal patterns at the magnet board and by drawing and designing. It was a great Saturday!
MathHappens at Winter Tree Fest
Nina Hunt, Elizabeth Wrightsman, and Josephine Sheng helped present one of our new activities at Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center’s Winter Tree Fest this past Saturday. Visitors had the opportunity to explore Pull-String 3D shapes (laser files are here). Here is a video of one of the shapes that visitors got to make to go with the Fortlandia exhibit that was at
…
Austin Nature and Science Center Fall Fest Star Party
One person can make a real difference by bringing math into a family event at the Nature Center. Emmie Chng was working solo with an enthusiastic gathering of families. They learned how to make a plumbline, how to use a quadrant, how to make one at home and why we look to the north star to find latitude. Here’s the
…
Educator Night at The Thinkery
MathHappens Interns Josephine Sheng and Viyang Shah had the opportunity to try out an activity on Freese’s Dissections at The Thinkery’s Educator Night on October 17th, 2019. They had a great time interacting with educators in the Austin area and demonstrate to them how math can be approachable and fun. Some even said they’d leave their personalized puzzles at their
…
MathHappens @ Austin Museum Day – Pioneer Farms
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
…