Take and Make: Conic Sections Model

Lauren SiegelMaking Math, Mathematical Artifacts, Sharing Ideas, Take and Make, Ways to like math, We think math is fun!15 Comments

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. Note:  if you are “making” this model from scratch, once you find the

Take and Make: Platonic Solids Coasters!

Lauren SiegelMaking Math, Sharing Ideas, Take and Make, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

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

Take and Make: Homeschool Day at the Austin Zoo 2021

Lauren SiegelMaking Math, Take and Make, Teacher Support & Training, We think math is fun!Leave a Comment

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

Take and Make: Napier’s Bones Calculator

Paola GarciaCommunity Partnerships, History Connections, Library, Making Math, Math at Home, Mathematical Artifacts, Take and Make, Teacher Support & Training1 Comment

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

Take and Make – Voronoi Flipbook

Paola GarciaMaking Math, Math at Home, Sharing Ideas, Take and Make, Ways to like math, We think math is fun!, Zoom FriendlyLeave a Comment

After talking with Minnesota Landscape Arboretum, we began searching for new ideas to interact with Voronoi Diagrams. During our pre-pandemic presentations and events we allowed people to interact with a Voronoi simulation that had been posted on Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Voronoi_growth_euclidean.gif While brainstorming we decided to buy a flipbook kit and test out what we could do with them. One of our

Take and Make: Icosahedron from Golden Rectangles

Josephine ShengMaking Math, Math at Home, Sharing Ideas, Take and Make, We think math is fun!, Zoom Friendly2 Comments

We were inspired by a post on Twitter by Olivier Longuet shown below. The object in the photo is an icosahedron, a 20-sided 3D shape, made out of three golden rectangles with side lengths that obey the golden ratio (1:1.618033…). To make a cardboard version of the icosahedron, print out this document and follow the instructions! You can also make

Take and Make: Making a Pool Test Apparatus

Lauren SiegelMaking Math, Sharing Ideas, Take and Make, Teacher Support & Training, Ways to like math, We think math is fun!, Zoom FriendlyLeave a Comment

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