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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The Surrounding Game
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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Let’s Make Math!
12 Projects & Endless Hours of Creative, Math-tastic Fun! Check it out. This book was imagined and realized by MathHappens interns Saurav Gandhi and Megan Do. It contains 12 of our favorite topics, beautiful graphics and ideas. We feel really confident it can be a resource for offering math activities in a variety of settings. We are pleased to have
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Planning for Math at the Ohio State Fair
Every year at Math On-A-Stick, we get questions about whether similar events exist at other state fairs, and about what is required to bring this kind of educational play to other fairs. As far as we know, the Minnesota State Fair is the only state fair with a large-scale playful family math event. We have dreamed of supporting others in
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Kickoff to Summer in Minnesota
The Minnesota State Fair puts on an event to celebrate the beginning of summer (Kickoff to Summer) each Memorial Day weekend, and for the first time this year, MathHappens was on the scene. We brought Geometiles and an instant camera in order to build a 3D Shape Museum. We brought multi-colored spheres and frames for building pyramids and other shapes.
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Feb 24th: MathHappens’ Big Busy Weekend!
On February 24th MathHappens’ four locations were open to the public in Autin, TX at the Nature and Science Center, and Millennium Youth Entertainment Complex, in Mankato, MN at the Children’s Museum of Southern Minnesota and in Albuquerque, NM at Explora! Matt Hertel manages the space at the Nature and Science Center and Millennium and paused a moment to record
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Buda Library STEAMfest
165 people of all ages were at the Buda Public Library on January 24 to celebrate Science, Technology, Art and Mathematics. We had something for everyone at our tables. Huston-Tillotson student and MathHappens intern Niela Williams did a great job facilitating and letting the community know about the free Math Room at ANSC. We found out that the librarians in
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Joint Mathematics Meeting 2024
Christopher Danielson and I headed to SF to help represent Math Communities in the American Institute of Mathematics booth. We had a great time! We gave away hundreds of Curry Triangle Paradoxes, had dozens of conversations about remote internships and programs and shared some of our favorite models and then gave them away in a raffle. Here are some of
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