Month:

What is a Mathematical Fossil Hunt?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, takes us on a mathematical fossil hunt as we observe a modern water feature at the Texas Sculpture Walk. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here: https://talkstem.org/talkstem-activity-guides/ Support for these guides was provided... CONTINUE READING

How Can Basic Shapes Create Complex Art?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, enjoys connecting the arts and mathematics. He takes a look at the Pegasus sculpture outside of the the Booker T Washington high school and notices the collection of varied shapes used by the artist to create this complex form. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

Can Math Help Grass Grow?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, rapidly brainstorms a series of questions about the grasses he notices in the planters outside a building on a busy street. He illustrates for us that the math and STEM-related questions we can ask about everyday objects are almost endless and that it’s a lot of fun to ask these questions in our everyday lives!... CONTINUE READING

Where are the circles?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, notices the repeating motif of circles in the design of the Cathedral Guadeloupe. He highlights the intersection between geometry and architecture by making observations about the use of circles within circles and symmetrical arrangements in the traditional architecture of the church. Dr. Whitney illustrates for us that the math and STEM-related observations we can make about everyday places around... CONTINUE READING

What shapes are in the Geodome?

  • September 9

Elementary students in the after school club came up with ideas for a math walk around their campus. In this math walk stop, they explore the geodome structure on their playground through their math lens. Research conducted during this semester-long afterschool club led to this research paper: Wang, M., Walkington, C., & Dhingra, K. (2021). Facilitating Student-Created Math Walks, Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12, 114(9), 670-676. Retrieved Sep 17, 2021, from... CONTINUE READING

What’s the Really Big Number here?

  • September 9

Elementary students in the after school club came up with ideas for a math walk around their campus. In this math walk stop, they explore the hallway leading to the school cafeteria through their math lens. Research conducted during this semester-long afterschool club led to this research paper: Wang, M., Walkington, C., & Dhingra, K. (2021). Facilitating Student-Created Math Walks, Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12, 114(9), 670-676. Retrieved Sep 17, 2021, from... CONTINUE READING

How do we make the Swing go high?

  • September 9

Elementary students in the after school club came up with ideas for a math walk around their campus. In this math walk stop, they explore the swing on their playground through their STEM lens. Research conducted during this semester-long afterschool club led to this research paper: Wang, M., Walkington, C., & Dhingra, K. (2021). Facilitating Student-Created Math Walks, Mathematics Teacher: Learning and Teaching PK-12, 114(9), 670-676. Retrieved Sep 17, 2021, from... CONTINUE READING

How many tiles are there?

  • September 9

A high school student at Hockaday School created a campus STEM walk for elementary students to enjoy. In this walk stop, she comes up with a strategy for estimating the total number of tiles making up a walkway on campus.... CONTINUE READING

Angle a tron

  • September 9

In this video, we share the ways you can use this convenient math measuring tool to explore the places you visit with your child/student, including the place they are in right now from home to campus! You can freely print the angle-a-tron tool as well as the shapefinder tool onto an acetate using these pdfs... CONTINUE READING

Shapefinder – Goodnight Dallas

  • September 9

In this video, we share the ways you can use this convenient math measuring tool to explore the places you visit with your child/student, including the place they are in right now from home to campus! You can freely print the shapefinder tool as well as the angle-a-tron tool onto an acetate using these pdfs... CONTINUE READING