Month:

What determines where leaves are positioned on branches?

  • September 9

Leaves are what plants use to gather sunlight, necessary for plants to grow and thrive. This means that it is to a plant's advantage if their leaves' position is such that all leaves receive the most possible sunlight - minimizing overlaps and shadow wherever possible! Different plants use different strategies and arrangements to make this happen, though there are some common trends across many different species. By using a protractor to measure the angles between leaves, we can tease out some o... CONTINUE READING

What Angles do We Make when We Walk?

  • September 9

This video was features two IF/THEN® ambassadors, Dr. Julie Mirpuri and Dr. Kirsten Tulchin-Francis. Dr. Julie Mirpuri is a Physician Scientist at UT Southwestern Medical Center and Dr. Kirsten Tulchin-Francis is the Director of Movement Science at Texas Scottish Rite Hospital for Children and Professor at UT Southwestern Medical Center. Julie and Kirsten answer the questions: What angles do we create walking? How are they important for getting where we need to go? Can you try walking around wi... CONTINUE READING

How many angles can you find using the angle-a-tron?

  • September 9

High school members of the Women in STEM club in Greenhill School stop at the playground on their math walk to share some math with the second graders. There are angles all around us on our campus, including in the branches of the trees, and the walls of our buildings. How can we use our angle-a-tron tool to measure some of them? What can we learn about the different angles around us? You can freely print the shapefinder tool as well as the angle-a-tron tool onto an acetate using this pdf:... CONTINUE READING

Similar Triangles or Not?

  • September 9

What are similar triangles and how can we tell if triangles are similar or if they are not? Students and faculty from CityLab High School, Dallas ISD join us on a beautiful day at Fair Park, an architectural treasure trove in the city of Dallas to explore this question using the sights of the Esplanade. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING

What is Art Deco?

  • September 9

Fair Park, a state and National Historic Landmark, has the largest collection of 1930s Art Deco style architecture in the United States, located on 277 acres. In this video, we briefly discuss what art deco is and how it is related to STEM.... CONTINUE READING

What is Symmetry Doing for Us?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor admires the dome shaped ceiling in Dallas Hall. He notices the symmetries in the design of the rotunda and finds a linear relationship between symmetry and decorative items. This is a great example of a beautiful design produced through the use of a variety of different kinds of symmetries. A supplementary activity guide is available for this video, thanks to participation by faculty and students at... 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

Where Can We See Symmetry in this Airplane?

  • September 9

The Tuskegee Airmen were the first Black military aviators in the U.S. Army Air Corps, a precursor of the U.S. Air Force. They flew more than 15,000 individual sorties in Europe and North Africa during World War II. Their performance earned them more than 150 Distinguished Flying Crosses, and helped encourage the eventual integration of the U.S. armed forces. In this video we explore the symmetries we can observe as we explore a model of the airplane these heroes flew. Supplementary Activity Gui... CONTINUE READING