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
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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
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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
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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
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MathHappens @ Austin Museum Day – ANSC
We had an amazing time at Austin Nature and Science Center! Photo Gallery to come! At ANSC, we shared with the public ways to understand math through art. We brought out our tessellating pentagons and regular shapes (squares, rectangles, etc.) and invited the public to go through the history that brought us to the 15 irregular tessellating pentagons that we
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MathHappens @ Austin Museum Day- You are Invited!
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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Saturdays with MathHappens at the Austin Nature and Science Center
Visitors today created a butterfly puzzle that can stay at the ANSC. Each one made a butterfly piece and together they are a tribute to famous mathematician Marjorie Rice’s work on the tessellating pentagon problem. Its a great way to end our summer series! See you next summer!
Saturdays with MathHappens at the Austin Nature and Science Center: Fibonacci Bees
Visitors learn about the Fibonacci Sequence (1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8…) and how it relates to bee genetics. The visitors center has an actual beehive in the entryway. Visitors could color in their own bee. The bee family tree is etched on the back.
CAMT Presentation July 10!
We are excited to bring two backpacks full of MathHappens goodies for door prizes. Paola Garcia and I are co-presenting a session with star Austin High math teacher Mardi Nott. Participants are going to look into each others eyes and discover the power of geometry to analyze light reflections, using similar triangles to reveal the height or distance of objects
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#4 MathHappens at Nature Nights at the Wildflower Center: Voronoi Patterns
Visitors of all ages selected a pattern to trace. When the underlying structure is traced, the giraffe, cracked mud, turtle shell and dragonfly wing all result in similar voronoi patterns. When you compare to the bubbles you can see the similarity there as well.