New audience. Old artifacts.

J JCommunity Partnerships, Field Trips, Mathematical Artifacts, Museum, Teacher Support & TrainingLeave a Comment

If you are a fan of museums, then you have seen something like this object before… probably dozens of times.  This impressive artifact is a nocturnal from La Belle and it can be used to tell time at night by the positions of the stars. As historic artifacts and symbols of exploration and discovery, navigation tools like this one spark

Take and Make: Parallel Ruler and Compass Rose

Lauren SiegelConference Presentations, Making Math, Museum, Take and Make, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

In 2019, we brought our suite of Navigation Math to New York to share how we relate math to Texas History and the voyage of La Belle which is on exhibit at the Texas State History Museum.  Files to make our version of the Parallel Ruler are here.     Files to make our version of the Compass Rose are here. Participants

Webinar: Making the Most of Math Connections at your Museum or Historical Site

Lauren SiegelCommunity Partnerships, Events, Field Trips, History Connections, Intern Experience, Library, Making Math, Mathematical Artifacts, Museum, Nature & Science Center, Parks & Recreation, Sharing Ideas, Take and Make, Teacher Support & Training, Ways to like math, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

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

Awesome Math Making Ideas from Other People – Napiers Bones

Lauren SiegelHistory Connections, Making Math, Mathematical Artifacts, Museum, Sharing Ideas, Ways to like math2 Comments

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

Women in Steam at the Thinkery

Lauren SiegelCommunity Partnerships, Events, Making Math, Museum, Take and Make, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

Women in Mathematics!  Katherine Johnson calculated trajectories, parabolic and otherwise for NASA in the 1960s.  Almost 70 years earlier Mary Boole invented curve stitching to teach the mathematical properties of parabolas to children.  We made some really great foldable parabolas to connect to the work of both these women in math.  Here’s the laser file – we cut the holes

2020 Real Places Conference!

Lauren SiegelConference Presentations, MuseumLeave a Comment

  Elizabeth Lay, our math in history expert anchored our exhibit table and Claire Steffens, Director of Experience for Pioneer Farms co-presented with MathHappens Foundation Director Lauren Siegel.  Go Team!  We had a great time. Some links and information: We learned to use laser cutters at Austins own laser coop:  MakeATX For a short and informative  explanation of Golden Calipers

See you at MoMath!

J JEvents, MuseumLeave a Comment

Join us a fun Family Friday, 10 January 2020 at the National Museum of Mathematics in New York City! Pentagonal Pursuit: Solving a Century-Old Tiling Problem — Explore the many types of tessellating tiles and decorate your favorites. Take away stories, art and patterns to inspire more discovery at home. Register now to save your spot! Follow us on Instagram

HEB Free Sunday at the Texas State History Museum – November 3

Lauren SiegelEvents, MuseumLeave a Comment

We had a special treat for HEB Sunday!  Caroline Ainslie of Bubbly Math was on hand to make a geodesic dome from balloons. We had a great team for the day including Michelle Tat, Lauren Siegel, Marybeth Barnstone, Millie Barnstone, Emmie Chng, Josephine Sheng, Caroline Ainslie, Samantha Trevino and Nina Hunt~ Samantha, Emmie, Josephine, Nina and some guest MH staffers