Events of 2007

Battell School Boys and Girls Club Math Studio

Jan 12, 2007 – May 18, 2007

Math Studio meets on Fridays during game time. Stop by as often as you like to fold origami polyhedra, build polyhedra from plastic Polydrons, build electric circuits, play math games, and learn about logic using integrated circuits.

Family Math Activity -- Owls and Voles

Jan 13, 2007

Play the part of a family of barn owls and determine how many voles you can eat without destroying your food supply. Based on actual hunting rates, we will use our model to estimate the number of voles needed to support a barn owl family.

Family Math Activity -- Perspective Drawing

Jan 20, 2007

What is the best place to stand in order to make a painting or photo look three dimensional? Learn secrets of perspective drawing that revolutionized painting during the Renaissance.

Montessori Family Night at ETHOS -- Sonobe Polyhedra

Jan 25, 2007

Fold paper to create colorful Sonobe ornaments.

Family Math Activity -- Historical Number Systems

Jan 27, 2007

Build your own abacus. Then travel back in time and around the world to encounter different ways that people have represented and calculated with numbers.

Science Alive -- Topology Puzzles

Feb 3, 2007

Try some hands-on challenges as you learn about the area of mathematics known as "topology".

Family Math Activity -- Topology Puzzles

Feb 10, 2007

Challenge your brain with a variety of topology puzzles including one with a Valentines Day theme.

LaSalle Academy Global Air Conditioners Workshop

Feb 15, 2007

We have all heard that trees help to clean the air and cool the Earth, but how much difference does one tree make? In this workshop for teachers, we present an activity for 5th through 8th grade students that enables them to ``weigh'' a tree to estimate how much it cools our planet.

Family Math Activity -- Logic Gates

Feb 17, 2007

Be logical! Use LED lights, logic gates, and other electronic components to experience the true meaning of the words AND, OR, NOT, and other logical connectors.

Family Math Activity -- Statistical Sampling

Feb 24, 2007

Use sampling techniques and a beachball globe to determine the ratio of land to water on Earth. Determine the ratios of colors in bags of M&M candies.

Family Math Activity -- The Candy Sharing Game

Mar 3, 2007

The candy sharing game has a simple rule for passing candy around the circle. We will experiment to figure out how to make the game stop, end in a steady state, or end in a cycle depending on the amount of starting candy, the number of people playing, and the initial distribution of candy.

Family Math Activity -- Magic Pinwheels and Polygons

Mar 24, 2007

Learn about angles in regular polygons. Use this knowledge to fold a magic pinwheel that expands and contracts.

Valley Screen Company Picnic

Aug 18, 2007

Learn to fold a magic pinwheel, a Sonobe Polyhedron, or an origami jumping frog.

IUSB ALANA Student Welcome Night

Aug 30, 2007

We distributed information about math learning resources available to IUSB students and taught participants to fold Sonobe polyhedra and Magic Pinwheels.

Art Beat

Sep 6, 2007

Learn to fold a magic pinwheel or a Sonobe polyhedron.

Math Studio at Sample Street Boys and Girls Club

Sep 11, 2007 – Dec 18, 2007

3rd through 6th grade students at the Sample Street Boys and Girls Club stop by the Math Studio table in the games room to try hands-on math activities. During the fall semester, our weekly sessions involve activities relating to our theme of geometric designs. After learning basics about functions, graphing, and imaginary numbers, students use computers to generate and explore colorful fractal designs.

GED Class Visits

Sep 12, 2007 – Dec 19, 2007

Working in partnership with the Adult Education Department at the South Bend Community School Corporation, we are exploring innovative new ways to improve math instruction in GED classes.

Family Math Activity -- Prime Numbers

Sep 15, 2007

Hop the number line and use the Sieve of Eratosthenes as we search for prime numbers.

Saturday Math Circle

Sep 15, 2007 – Dec 8, 2007

Math Circle is for students with long attention spans who enjoy tackling interesting questions. Students learn to collaborate with others while developing and defending their mathematical ideas.

IUSB Math Club Graduate School Panel

Sep 18, 2007

Dean and Amanda Serenevy served as panelists for the IUSB Math Club's Graduate School panel discussion.

Family Math Activity -- Bin Packing

Sep 22, 2007

Are you an efficient packer? Learn some algorithms for placing items into containers.

Family Math Activity -- Tessellations

Sep 29, 2007

Fit shapes together to make designs that cover a 2-dimensional plane.

Hamilton Primary Center Teacher Workshop

Oct 2, 2007

During this teacher workshop, we try four math activities that build number sense and problem solving skills in kindergarten through fourth grade students.

Penn Harris Madison Middle School Math Teacher Meeting

Oct 4, 2007

During a PHM Middle School math teacher meeting, Amanda summarized her research in mathematical neuroscience, presented a counting game, and shared information about math and science resources available in our community.

Rum Village Fall Festival

Oct 6, 2007

Learn to fold a magic pinwheel or a Sonobe polyhedron.

Math Studio at Navarre LEAP program

Oct 8, 2007 – Dec 17, 2007

5th grade students in Navarre Intermediate School's LEAP program work in small groups with assistance from teachers as we explore various math topics. Each topic is developed over a period of a month during our weekly meetings.

What is a Mathematician?

Oct 16, 2007

During this hour-long interactive presentation, upper elementary school students learn what a mathematician does. Students learn about research in mathematical neuroscience and visually tour several areas of math including braid arithmetic, cryptology, movie animation, origami, and Chladni patterns. Finally, students work as mathematicians creating conjectures and proving theorems relating to a simple counting game.

Family Math Activity -- Genetics

Oct 20, 2007

Build a family of doodlebugs. Use Punnett squares to determine what the baby doodlebugs might look like.

ETHOS Science Spooktacular

Oct 26, 2007 – Oct 27, 2007

Learn to fold a Sonobe polyhedron.

Family Math Activity -- Voting Theory

Nov 3, 2007

Who will win? You decide as you rig elections and determine what vote counting methods are fair.

Lincoln Primary Center Teacher Workshop

Nov 7, 2007

During this teacher workshop, we try three math activities that build number sense and problem solving skills in kindergarten through fourth grade students.

Family Math Activity -- Bar Codes

Nov 10, 2007

Beep! Learn what those funny bars and numbers on packages mean.

South Bend Middle School Math Teacher Circle

Nov 13, 2007 – Dec 11, 2007

Dr. Julianne Turner, a Psychology Professor at Notre Dame, is in the third year of a research project that helps middle school math teachers to apply the principles of motivation theory and best practices in math education. We are attending two of the after-school sessions this fall to observe and to help answer math questions when they arise.

Grissom Middle School Teacher Workshop

Nov 16, 2007

This workshop involves teachers in a series of hands-on activities relating to polygons and polyhedra. Activities are designed to be used as enrichment in classrooms and in the after-school program. The approach we present reinforces basic geometry terminology and concepts, builds algebraic thinking and pattern finding, and draws students in through exciting and colorful projects.

Family Math Activity -- Pi

Nov 17, 2007

Join Sir Cumference on several adventures as we explore the wonders of the number Pi.

Family Math Activity -- Origami Ornaments

Dec 1, 2007

Fold pieces that fit together to make colorful origami polyhedra.

Lincoln Primary Center Teacher Workshop

Dec 4, 2007

During this teacher workshop, we discussed efforts by Lincoln teachers to teach math more conceptually. We also designed lessons that incorporate books from the school library. We also talked about incorporating writing and motivation theory principals in math classes.

Family Math Activity -- Curve Stitching

Dec 8, 2007

Make your own holiday cards by using straight stitches to form intricate curved designs.