Month:

What is the shape of the traffic bollard?

  • 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 traffic bollards on an urban 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

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

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 Shapes Create Feelings?

  • September 9

Architect I. M. Pei designed this visually striking building. Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, points out that the effect of the design is dependent in part on the use of two geometric shapes that are unexpectedly used together. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

What is the Really Big Number Here?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, has fun with a really big number by estimating the number of stones that were used to build the sidewalk on Flora street. Using number arrays, estimation, and collaborative groupwork, Dr Whitney and friends come up with their estimate and then visualize how tall of a tower these stones would be if they were to be stacked up vertically. Can you guess? Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to e... 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

How many sections 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 looks at the beautifully statue of Hypatia, an ancient Egyptian mathematician and astronomer who died 415 AD. Here she notices the circle surrounding the sections and asks us to do some math to figure out the number of sections within this circle.... CONTINUE READING

What is the golden ratio?

  • September 9

A high school student at Hockaday School created a campus STEM walk for elementary students to enjoy. In this walk stop she explores the golden ratio that she sees in the dance studio on campus.... CONTINUE READING

How tall is the sculpture?

  • September 9

A high school student at Hockaday School created a campus STEM walk for elementary students to enjoy. In this walk stop, she stops at a tall sculpture that contains glass shapes created by Hockaday students and invites us to estimate the height of the sculpture and also to estimate the total number of glass shapes on the sculpture using some math detective work!... CONTINUE READING

Why is the bollard this shape?

  • September 9

A high school student at Hockaday School created a campus STEM walk for elementary students to enjoy. In this walk stop, she wonders why the traffic bollard is the shape it is.... CONTINUE READING