Month:

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

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

How does geometry relate to the Campanile Windows?

  • September 9

The stained glass of Campanile Window, by Octavio Medellin, contains irregular quadrilaterals – four-sided shapes with sides of different lengths – interspersed with lines and triangles in varying angles. In combination, all these lines create a sort of linear perspective, mimicking the way images shrink and converge as they recede from a viewer. Despite being made of flat, static glass, those design elements give the piece a clever way to convey a sense of energy and motion that matches wel... CONTINUE READING

What is an Irregular Quadrilateral?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, discusses some of the shapes within the Campanile Window installation at Dallas Love Field airport, and how they’re used to support and integrate the irregularly-shaped windows with the more classically rectangular shapes of the ticketing hall in which they've been hung. This video was supported by the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to exten... 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 Is an Ellipse?

  • September 9

Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor explores the space and notices the recurring appearance of a relatively unusual shape in architecture, ellipses. In this video, this shape is explored and measured and different ellipses are compared.... 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