Let’s continue the tradition of service to education, support our students and learners of all ages in mathematics by offering free learning resources to the Austin community, support cross disciplinary programs, create and use hands on interactive models. A great opportunity is on the table. The Pease School opened in 1876 and served Austin as an elementary school for 144
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Crafting Conic Sections with MTCA – Dec. 2 Math Teacher’s Circle of Austin
Teachers enjoy models and making and they take that enthusiasm and activity back to their students. Hosted by Professor Jennifer Austin of University of Texas at Austin, this was a particularly fun meeting. We discussed how we make these models – see MAA Horizon Do the Math Article , tried using paper templates and slicing into playdoh. See Take and
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Take and Make: Homeschool Day at the Austin Zoo 2021
Happy Homeschool Day at the Austin Zoo! It’s going to be 80 degrees and sunny, a great day for learning outdoors. We will be there featuring our geometry kits. But we are bringing other great projects too with examples with instructions. The event is preregister only, but you can make these great math projects anytime. Template Folder Here. Beside to
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Take and Make: Napier’s Bones Calculator
Napier’s Bones are a manually operated calculator created by John Napier in 1612. This calculator is based on Lattice Multiplication and helps math learners with multiplying large numbers by a single digit number. Math learners! Start identifying multiplication patterns by making your own set of Napier’s Bones! Materials: Napier’s Bones Paper Template: https://tinyurl.com/rh5xdajt Writing utensil (pencil or pen) Popsicle sticks
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UTeach Conference 2021 – Leveling the Playing Field: Creating Equity in Mathematics
MathHappens had the opportunity to present at the 2021 UTeach STEM Educators Conference. The theme for this year was Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in STEM Education. Paola and Josephine led our session on “Leveling the Playing Field: Creating Equity in Mathematics.” Below are some images of our slides. If you would like to view our entire presentation, here are our
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New audience. Old artifacts.
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
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Take and Make: Making a Pool Test Apparatus
You don’t need robots and computers, just a system and apparatus to organize the steps! This model is based on the results alluded too but not completely explained by an Israeli company in the recent NY Times article by David Halbfinger on creative pool testing options. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/21/health/fast-coronavirus-testing-israel.html Trying to come up with one of these is a great activity for
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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
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Guest Lecturing at UT Perspectives Class
Perspectives was one of my favorite classes at UTeach! What a treat to come with Elizabeth Lay to guest speak to Dr. Raby’s spring class. I covered the research and idea generation process which includes going to museums, thinking about math connections, and most of all curiosity. Elizabeth shared details of our Math and Texas History project including some original
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Skyline High. Calculus the Musical!
Have you seen it? MathHappens was happy to support a San Francisco Bay Area stop for Matheatre’s Calculus the Musical. Xiaojie Zhang teaches calculus at Skyline High School in Oakland, California. It was because of Ms. Zhang’s enthusiasm (and a few speedy emails to her principal’s office) that Matheatre could make Skyline High a special stop on their 2020 tour. More
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