There are some wonderful projects at Mathscraft. But one students of any age will enjoy is creating an orderly tangle of triangles below. You can find a PDF template download for thise triangles @ the Mathscraft link above.
And this Orderly Tangle of 4 Triangles can be made on any scale from cute earrings to ORDERLY MONSTER TANGLE. Go wild mathspiggies.
Skills: Geometry, polygons, measurement …. and creativity.
Levels: Junior School & Middle School
In this activity students will create their own, preferably life-sized cardboard igloo. Igloo structures can be complicated or simple and in this project students must design and then build an igloo using a standard hexagon. Here are some inspiring designs.
The first igloo was built using computer generated constructive geometry. It uses a basic – but distorted – hexagonal cardboard unit and was built by by the students of the Faculty of Architecture, University of Porto. You can see the construction method below. More info here.
The next cardboard igloo is based entirely on circles. It was designed by students of ETH Zurich in Switzerland. More info here.
The following cardboard igloo based on triangles looks simple but has a very strong construction. More info here.
But the Granddaddy of the geometric or geodesic dome was Buckminster Fuller, who has been honoured by having a carbon-based nano-molecule named after him. They’re called Bucky Balls. If you look at the geodesic dome below you can see the HEXAGONAL PATTERN also visible int he Bucky Balls.
Brazilian architect Carlos Teixeira created an incredible labyrinth made entirely from layered recycled cardboard for the 29th International Biennial in Sao Paulo.
Labyrinths are mysterious. And mathspiggies, look at that lovely parabola. Making a labyrinth on this =scale may be beyond the resources of a maths class … but then again some imagination and some maths skills and voila:
In phase one of the project 240 students at Kingsford Primary School in Aberdeen used interconnecting materials to design and build a labyrinth inspired by the story of Icarus.
Skills:Geometry, measurement, cylinders, area, symmetry and creativity.
Year Level: Year 4 – whatever
Ask students to build their own cardboard armour and helmet. Give prizes in the category of Scariest, most Mathematically-Complex, Star Wars Potential, Most Historical, Most Creative and any other category that crops up. You can source cardboard from your nearest Self-Storage Warehouse.
Mathspig was at Womadelaide Music Festival 2013 and saw the Box Wars at work. The Box Wars guys, Joss, Josh and Hoss, started in Melbourne and now travel to Music Festivals around Australia. Boxwars builds sculptures, armour, props and sets and airplanes , tanks, cannons and the rest.
They stage battles of destruction … but destruction isn’t always the outcome.
If you want to interest kids especially boys 8 – 12 years of age in maths, get them building armour.
Mathspig saw dozens of them at WOMAD and they so loved their armour they wouldn’t take it off in 39Cº.
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Sometimes it is just lots and lots of fun. Here is a recently staged BOX WARS in Canberra. You only need watch a few minutes of the video to get the idea.
Sometimes the muses look down upon Middle School Maths teachers and say ‘Gadzooks! …
…. those courageous purveyors of The mathematiques need a little help.
Shazam!’
And here it is.
ONE Direction … who Mathspig foolishly kept calling ONe Dimesnsion in a talk to 14 year olds last year … AHHHH!!!
Getting confused over rock star names is just, soooooo pathetic, like mum and dad.
But do One Direction know their maths? What do you think? Does this video make sense?
Or are they just number Tragics?
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Weird Maths Activity
Play the video at the beginning of the class. Set the days work. Then at the end of the class, students have to sing their answers … clicking their fingers … One Direction style ….
Mathspig is excited. O wonder. O rapture. O Mathematical magic.
A museum of mathematics has just opened in New York, on Manhattan no less.
George Hart with his math art and students at MOMATH
Here is a quote from New Scientist: New Scientist 10 Dec 2012
The founders of the Museum of Mathematics (MoMath) know they have a fight on their hands, given the pervasive idea that the subject is boring, hard and scary. But they are determined to give mathematics a makeover, with exhibits that express an unselfconscious, giddy joy in exploring the world of numbers and forms.
“We want to show a different side of mathematics,” says museum co-founder Cindy Lawrence. “Our goal is to get kids excited, and show them the math they’re doing in school is just one tree in a whole huge forest.”
It looks like fun, fun, fun.
Mathspig will go all the way from Australia later in the year just to wallow mathspiggy-style in all this fun maths.
Menger Sponge Cycle
View Inside MOMATH math museum NY
Having fun at MOMATH
Weird Math ACTIVITY
Here is a link to a PDF file of some fantastic shapes that fold two ways like TRANSFORMERS.
You can make these fantastic shapes by Joseph O’Rouke, Olin Professor of Computer Science @ Smith College MA if you go here.
If you really are curious as to what research mathematicans do, go here. It’s really interesting stuff.
SNACK TIME
While you are in the cafe you better do something mathsy. Here is the way to cut a bagel for the maximum spread of cream cheese.
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How heavy is $500,000 dollars?
