These are really fun! This design could possibly be improved but it does work pretty well. The newest version files are here in AI, SVG and Corel formats. It’s a pretty simple design. Here are the parts. Basically a larger square overhangs the smaller creating a channel with partial cover that the little “cars” can slide in, but not pop
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The Reuleaux Car The pieces are below, and an AI, SVG, and Corel File are available here. The file has a laser etch on the big wheel to guide the placement of the smaller piece. Glue two small pieces to one side and two large ones on the other side. The wheel holders work by sliding so you can install
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This one is easy fun and somehow a little bit magical. Makes a great little math gift. The challenge is to make rectangles with pieces #1-5, #1-6, #1-7, and #1-8 (as below) Details, Instructions and Template Here. Here are the “versions” in a short video. These pieces are made in relation to eachother so there are many versions
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Turns out you can use CorelDraw to reverse engineer the parts to a conic section model. Read all about it in the November 2021 MAA Math Horizons page called Do The Math (p. 29). Editor Tom Edgar was fun to work with, and made the graphic images. The files are here, please help yourself. We cut ours out of 1/8″
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We had a few slides to introduce MathHappens to the group and then dove right in to a hot topic, redistricting or Gerrymandering. We just had the proposed new Texas map released, but none of the negotiated changes that came the next day on the 14th, so there were real examples of all 4 types of Gerrymandering which are cracking,
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Plain Platonic Solids are pretty cool – fun shapes, interesting properties from side type: triangle square and pentagons; number of edges; number of faces and more. But they are also plain. Fall intern and UTeach Maker, Maddie Wallace took on the challenge to make some accessories that would create a way we can sort them, and match the objects to
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Thanks to the the Make: Education Forum for a great conference! From the Q&A: The slides I presented are available here. One book I really recommend, Ernest Irving Freese’s Geometric Transformations by Greg Frederickson. The book has had written plates by an architect that can be recreated in Corel or other graphics software. Some of the designs are great for
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Interns Saurav Gandhi and Anh Nguyen co-presented the “Making and Math” session at the FAB16 Conference. They presented several of the math models we have constructed over the years including Koch Fractals, Mini Unit Circles, and Curve Stitching. Participants were shown how they can get creative with topics in Math by participating in making a Fractal Collage (see image gallery
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We’ve said it before and we said it again at the Connected Learning Summit in July. this was a great month of programs. You can see some of the keynote speakers as well as find our Ignite talk among some other excellent 5 minute presentations (2nd session, 2nd talk) in their post here. Highlights From the 2021 Connected Learning Summit
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This post is the sequence of instruction with work examples from a STEM Santa FE Camp held on January 28, 2021. The students are 7th and 8th graders enrolled in a summer program following a year of primarily on-line instruction. Lesson Plan History of Pooled Testing – Demo of Simple Pooling Order a Pooled Test Demo Kit (same as in
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