Dr. Glen Whitney, founder of the National Museum of Mathematics in New York and walkSTEM advisor estimates how many people could potentially fit in the arena for an event.... CONTINUE READING
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
Estimation, quantity, and scale help us understand aspects of the world around us that we can’t always interact with directly – these tools help us understand large objects and numbers, and ways to represent them. We discuss the questions students at the St. Philip’s School and Community Center posed within this math theme to show just how intuitive this can be! This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DRL 2115393. Any opinions, findings, an... CONTINUE READING
Here, we observe the scale model of the Beal Rocket and wonder how we can estimate the height of this scale model and thereby estimating the height of the actual rocket using some simple and fun math detective work. We ended up coming very close to the actual height! Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING
We wonder what the maximum number of people is that could fit on board the 737 people we are walking through at the museum? How can we come up with a good estimate? We use number arrays to come up with our estimate and walk you through our thinking. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING
Ever look into a pool and think, “Wow – that’s a lot of water!” This thought prompted us to consider exactly how many showers one could take using water in the pool at Camp Whispering Cedars. We started by measuring the surface area and perimeter of the pool before determining volume, using the formula, Volume=(Area)(Height). You’ll be amazed at what we discovered! Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING
At the Crystal Charity Ball Exploration Center at Camp Whispering Cedars, where Girl Scouts can marvel at plants growing on the building, you might notice from the video that the roof is sloped. Gravity pulls rainwater toward the front of the building, where the water falls into the gutters. From the gutters, the water is moved to plastic rain barrels, at the corners of the building. What an amazing example of sustainability and conservation efforts at work! We consider exactly how many toilet f... CONTINUE READING
We visited the Staubach Sports Field to determine if other teams could use the field for a regulation sports game. We use non-standard units of measurement, like arm span, to estimate the length of the field. 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/ We invite all interested groups... CONTINUE READING
Scouts love visiting Camp Whispering Cedars for its amazing ropes course – great for bonding and pushing new boundaries! The course features a zip line, ropes bridge, climbing wall, and a towering three-person swing. The swing made us wonder – exactly how high is someone pulled to start the swing? In order to figure this out, we use shadows and similar triangles. Supplementary Activity Guides for this video to extend student learning for K-12 grade levels are freely available here:... CONTINUE READING
We explore how to use slope, the ratio of height to horizontal distance, to better understand how stairs are designed based on international building codes to keep us safe. 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/ We invite all interested groups to reach out and find more informat... CONTINUE READING