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
Welcome to the Dallas Arts District, the largest contiguous urban arts district in the nation, with 20 square blocks of museums, performance halls, parks, restaurants, churches, schools, and homes; it is ranked 3rd in USA Today's 10 Best Arts Districts. Meet Dr Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor as he takes us on a tour with the goal of viewing this neighborhood through the lens of math and science. Supplementary Activity Guides for this... CONTINUE READING
Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, admires this large and visually stunning artwork outside the front doors of the Dallas Museum of Art. He looks at this artwork and wonders how the artist “mixed” colors in this mosaic to create various effects that we, as viewers, can appreciate. He introduces the color wheel to us an interesting example of a math model. He discusses: how is the color wheel a useful mathematical model? a limited... CONTINUE READING
Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, uses the mathematical properties of rectangles to help him measure the width of louvers that are extremely high us. 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 w... CONTINUE READING
Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, observes the grid of louvers up high at the AT&T Performing Arts Center and wonders: how do the louvers act as a sunscreen? How does Dallas’s latitude affect the design of the louvers? At what angle would you have the solar panels positioned in relation to the sun’s rays, if you were designing a building? Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade... CONTINUE READING
Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, admires the modern structure of a high rise building in the Arts District and highlights the fact that there are many different ways to look at a mathematical problem. These methods may include: decomposition of the larger area into smaller rectangular areas and finding the larger area and then subtracting the areas of each rectangular array. He illustrates these methods by observing the windows on... CONTINUE READING
This building has a unique design element – there is a gap in the facade of the building. Why would there be one? In this video, which is geared for high school students and older, Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, discusses temperature changes that we are used to, here in Dallas. He goes on to explore the mathematical relationship between change in temperature and the expansion factor of aluminum. Supplementary Activity Guides fo... CONTINUE READING
Renzo Piano, the architect who designed the stunning Nasher Sculpture Center, had a favorite ratio that becomes a repeating motif in the design and the measurements of the building. How can we figure it out? Join Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor, as he (together with a group of friends) takes some quick measurements to figure this out. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are... CONTINUE READING
Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor admires the unique grid up high above this space. Some questions that you get to explore are: What are louvers, and why are they useful?Can you identify other natural or man-made items which perform the same function or purpose as the louvers at the Winspear Opera House? What are the attributes of a quadrilateral, of a parallelogram? How could you measure the length of an object that is a far away fr... CONTINUE READING
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