MathHappens @ Austin Museum Day- You are Invited!

Lauren SiegelCommunity Partnerships, Events, History Connections, Intern Experience, Museum, Nature & Science Center, Parks & Recreation, Ways to like math, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

In this photo Ximena Mercado Garcia has items from each Museum Day math station on the table to share with Univision and their viewers. Las matemáticas también pueden ser divertidas. ¡Únete y descúbrelo tu mismo! Sarah Bacca is sending this note with all the details to teachers, principals and schools.  We hope everyone gets the word! Dear Math Enthusiasts,  

15 Tessellating Pentagons Project

Lauren SiegelMaking MathLeave a Comment

We are very excited to have our first batch of all 15 Pentagons!  Thanks to Parker Dewey intern Jason Gorst for having this idea back in January.  We have since celebrated Marjorie Rice and her contribution to the pentagon project, and it inspired a whole series on tessellation that we have brought to schools, the library, the Thinkery, the Nature

How Tall is the Flagpole- Using mirrors to find Proportions CAMT 2019

Lauren SiegelConference Presentations, Events, Teacher Support & Training, Ways to like math, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

Introduction We ask our students to imagine a huge variety of scenarios in math class:  trains approaching each other, roller coasters, boats sailing into the wind, buying ice cream, baking cakes, filling vases, sharing pizzas and on.  But our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds, with very different life experiences and may not be able to relate to

MathHappens EOY Party

Lauren SiegelEvents, Intern Experience, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

We invited interns, staff, families, colleagues from UTeach, UT Math,  MakeATX, AISD and from the Austin Musuem world. We had a food buffet upstairs and a math buffet downstairs including things we’ve collected and things we’ve made.  Great conversations and a nice afternoon together.   Thanks to Cliff Hill for coming to show us how throw those knives  right!  Thanks

Visit to the NY City Museum of Modern Art

Lauren SiegelIntern ExperienceLeave a Comment

What a great way to start the new year!   Mengyu Chen, a recent graduate of Vassar College  signed on for our Parker Dewey Internship in December and I’m so glad she did.  She did the intern reading, and spent some time with some calipers and other models.  Then she visited at least two museums.  She combined  her knowledge of

2018 End-of-Semester Party!

Lauren SiegelIntern ExperienceLeave a Comment

We had a wonderful, productive Fall 2018 here at MathHappens and we celebrated the end in style! We went to Whole Foods to eat and ice skate! Present were Michelle, Ben, Paola, Josephine, Halle, Rusheel, Abdulkarim, and Lauren. Some big achievements from this fall were: Participating in Austin Museum Day with activities at FIVE different museum locations Going to the

Educator Night!

Lauren SiegelIntern Experience, Teacher Support & TrainingLeave a Comment

This evening we headed to the Thinkery which is hosting an event for educators.  MathHappens interns Paola Garcia, Josephine Sheng and Ben Duong provided information on three field trips that will help teachers help students understand math in context and possibly answer the infamous “so what” question.  In addition we will be making and designing with the Spiral of Theodorus.

Austin Museum Day Part 5: Austin Nature and Science Center

Lauren SiegelEvents, Nature & Science CenterLeave a Comment

We were enthused about being back at the Austin Nature and Science Center for Austin Museum Day! Activities included visiting the Human Sunclock, which unfortunately was not fully functional due to it being a cloudy day with only brief moments of sunlight. However, that didn’t stop people from going over and still visiting. Other activities were using navigational quadrants and

Austin Museum Partnership Educator Night

Lauren SiegelIntern Experience, MuseumLeave a Comment

We brought a variety of materials and most importantly three of our UTeach Spring Interns to Educator night sponsored by the Austin Museum Partnership, and hosted at the LBJ Library — Fancy. We had some great conversations with teachers and with museum staff about adding math to museum offerings and about opportunities to take Math Field Trips!