Did you know MathHappens has 7 Math Rooms across 4 states? In this post, we hear from Monique Harrison, Ed.S about the Benjamin Banneker Math Room at the Northwest African American Museum (NAAM). “This space is more than just a place to explore mathematics—it is a vibrant community hub where children, parents, and educators come together to engage with math
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MathHappens Foundation was delighted to participate in SXSW EDU 2025 right here in our headquarter city of Austin, TX. The conference provided a stimulating environment for exchanging ideas and fostering valuable connections. We participated this year as an exhibitor, and used the opportunity to recreate a Math Room! Throughout the education conference, our exhibit in the Expo Hall was a
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“This is not what we expected to be doing all morning!” That’s what one family said after playing at the MathHappens table on a sunny San Diego morning. They arrived at the Civita Park Farmers Market planning to pick up some berries but got drawn into the MathHappens table, spending over half an hour with Puzzle-a-Day. Just as they were
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The MOXI is a museum in Santa Barbara, CA with a maker focus that has created a space that is both soothing and inspiring. We met STEAM Education manager Jasmine Thompson at our booth at a museum conference in Chicago in Fall of 2024. She was interested in using some of our materials in their programs. So of course we
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The Impossible Cylinder is a new model we recently made in our workshop and added to our Math Rooms and exhibits. It has been well received by people of various ages, which we love and think makes for a fun addition to our spaces. The impossible cylinder illusion, also known as the Ambiguous Cylinder Illusion, works by tricking the brain
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We love a special event at MathHappens. We do several dozen per year through our local partnerships as well as with distant organizations. An example of an event type we do is running our usual math room programming on a special day. This year, we spent Presidents Day at The Works Museum in Bloomington, MN. Our math room there is
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MathHappens has been growing, and we now have locations in four states! We have partners, employees, and interns working in Texas, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Washington, but we still love being able to offer our remote internship experience to students in any state! This past fall and winter, I had the pleasure of working with Cole Parsons, an engineering student
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We were invited recently to a STEAM Fair in Minneapolis. It took place Saturday, January 25 and was sponsored by a local chapter of Jack and Jill of America, an organization dedicated to nurturing future African-American leaders by working with children and their mothers. We brought most of our usual favorites—such as butterfly puzzles, and Block by Block, Jr. (a
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Click through here for the whole presentation. We do three math “experiments” in the session all using “calling cards” other materials common in the books are corks, wine bottles, knives, candles and other handy household items from the 1890s. These are so much fun!
MathHappens intern Asa Grumdahl is interested in Heesch numbers. Unfortunately, a formal presentation of Heesch numbers and questions surrounding them is too complicated as a starting place to engage the general public. The question then was “How might we engage novices in this sophisticated bit of mathematics?” Step one was to name this activity we were designing. “The Surrounding Game”
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