Sectional stars math club Fwd: Math Writeup

[Maria Droujkova]

This was one of the more magical math clubs we've had. Laura's write-up is below - thank you!

Here are a few comments from me... It only takes three lines to describe what we actually did for an hour and a half:
- Cut squares out of rectangles
- Fold several square bases
- Glue bases together to make stars and then other improvised shapes

 

Square base

Square base star

All of us literally lost track of the time by about an hour, because we had a very strong flow, with a-ha moments (problem-solving) AND immersion into a repetitive process at gradually increasing skill levels (art, meditation, project-based learning).

We first made a star out of five square bases contributed by everybody. It took people long to make their first square base.

Then everybody made their own stars, which took about the same time since people could make square bases much faster by now.

Then kids experimented with different numbers of bases, different positions, combining different sizes - doing "What if?" math investigations.

Photos coming up, though I only remembered to take a few, being in the zone like everybody else.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Laura Combs

 

Thursday’s lesson was an origami lesson. Visualization and precision were needed, and as one who hasn’t dealt much with origami, it was a challenge for me.

 

Maria handed out 3x5 note cards and asked “How do you make a square from a rectangle?”

Colson wanted to eyeball it and use the cutter tool.

Anna folded and wanted to cut along her fold.

 

Maria asked “How do you know it is a square?”

Anna said “Because it has the same sides.”

M – “How do you know?”

A – “Look”

M – “How do you know it is exact”

A – “Use a ruler”

The kids determined using a ruler that their squares are not really squares.

 

Maria took a 3x5 card and showed them how to make a square from a rectangle by folding a right angle and cutting off the unfolded portion. The kids folded and unfolded all diagonals and edges of their newly formed squares. Some of the folds were very difficult to visualize and execute, but Colson came up with a helpful folding technique. Through a series of folds the kids ended up with constructions that when glued together formed ornaments. The first construction was a 5 part origami 3-D star, and then any number of parts were used for other 3-D ornaments.

 

Origami was the only thing we did in the class and we worked through snack without realizing it. My notes are sparse due to my absorption in the activity. We did have snack at the end.

 

Laura Combs

www.movingstronglyforward.typepad.com

The older I get, the better I feel!

 

 

[Murray Bourne]

A thought:

Teenagers who have 4-second attention spans, are fidgety, have difficulty focusing, do not appear to enjoy learning and almost refuse to read:- their parents gave them PSPs, iPhones, etc. when young

Teenagers who are generally self-motivated and are willing to put in the necessary time for success:- their parents (or teachers) designed experiences that got them in the zone so they could experience the joy of "flow".

OK - simplistic, I know, but I think it's great what you are doing with these kids.

Regards,
Murray Bourne
===================================
Interactive Mathematics: http://www.intmath.com/
squareCircleZ: http://www.squarecirclez.com/blog/
Daily Math Tweet: http://twitter.com/intmath

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[Maria Droujkova]

On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 5:08 AM, Murray Bourne <mbo...@intmath.com> wrote:

A thought:

Teenagers who have 4-second attention spans, are fidgety, have difficulty focusing, do not appear to enjoy learning and almost refuse to read:- their parents gave them PSPs, iPhones, etc. when young

Teenagers who are generally self-motivated and are willing to put in the necessary time for success:- their parents (or teachers) designed experiences that got them in the zone so they could experience the joy of "flow".

OK - simplistic, I know, but I think it's great what you are doing with these kids.

Regards,
Murray Bourne
===================================
Interactive Mathematics: http://www.intmath.com/
squareCircleZ: http://www.squarecirclez.com/blog/
Daily Math Tweet: http://twitter.com/intmath

Murray,

Thank you for your kind words!

Let me ask the side of you who has created the best "trig functions in 4 seconds" applets I've ever seen...

How do we balance the exhilaration of quick-mindedness, and the meditative feel of deep focus in slow projects?

The trig reference: http://www.intmath.com/Trigonometric-graphs/1_Graphs-sine-cosine-amplitude.php

Cheers,
Maria Droujkova

Make math your own, to make your own math.