Month:

How long is the spiral?

  • 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 a spiral artwork on campus and invites children to estimate the length of the spiral using their math detective skills.... CONTINUE READING

What’s the biggest store?

  • September 9

Join Dr. Glen Whitney, Founder of the National Museum of Mathematics, as you discover how to best estimate which store is largest, given a map. This video was supported by NorthPark Center. 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/... CONTINUE READING

What is the angle at the very top of the Ad Astra sculpture?

  • September 9

Join Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics on a math walk. With the help of friends, he attempts to estimate the angle at the top of this very tall angle at the top of the Ad Astra sculpture. This video was supported by NorthPark Center. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here: https://talkstem.org/talkst... CONTINUE READING

How Can We Estimate the Amount of Water on Earth?

  • September 9

The terrazzo World Map in the main lobby provides a fairly accurate representation of the Earth’s surface. Using the lines separating its sections to divide it into quadrants, we can use fractions to estimate the portion of the whole covered by water. Combining these parts back together and comparing it to established numbers should give us and idea of how close we were able to get with our estimation! This video was supported by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs. Supplementary Act... CONTINUE READING

What’s the farthest distance between 2 points on the map?

  • September 9

Does it ever seem like you parked at a store that is farthest away from the store you want? Join Dr. Glen Whitney, Founder of the National Museum of Mathematics, as you discover how to determine what the farthest points are within NorthPark Center. This video was supported by NorthPark Center. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

How Large is the Art?

  • September 9

Martin Donlin’s multi-panel work Blueprint of Flight spans a large portion of the pedestrian walkway wall. By measuring the size of single one of these panel, and multiplying by the number of panels in the work, we can begin to calculate the square footage of the piece as a whole. This video was supported by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

What’s the Scale?

  • September 9

The giant mosaic North Texas Sunrise depicts many native texan flowers, all far larger than life. Using a standard 8.5" x 11" sheet paper as a measuring device, we calculate how much larger the mosaic flowers are than the real thing, determining the scale of the artwork. This video was supported by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

How Much Gold is There?

  • September 9

Perhaps the most eye-catching feature of Dallas Fair Park is the gold-leaf wrapped Tower Building. Yes, that is real gold! Because of the allure and attraction of gold, we definitely want to ask, “How much is all of that gold on the Tower Building worth?” Before we go through the calculations, stop and take a moment to guess. Is it 1,000 dollars worth of gold? $10,000? A million dollars? Let’s figure it out. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 g... CONTINUE READING

Why is the Ceiling Made of Triangles?

  • September 9

Why do we see so many triangles in buildings? Why is it one of the strongest shapes? We invite all interested groups to reach out and find more information on creating content of their own math walk or STEM walking tour with us at https://talkstem.org/create-your-own-walkstem.... CONTINUE READING

What’s the Most Symmetrical Solid?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor speaks to us from Klyde Warren Park where he notices interesting things about the fun climbing structure in the Children’s playground and also the shape of the Perot Museum of Nature and Science in the distance. He makes connections between his observations and Platonic solids and also answers the question: What’s the Most Symmetrical Solid in the Dallas Arts District? Supplementary Activity Guid... CONTINUE READING