Month:

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

How Can we Estimate Really Tall Things We Can’t Reach?

  • September 9

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

How Do Artists Use Math to Mix Colors?

  • September 9

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

What’s My Question (Introduction)

  • September 9

Viewing the world through a mathematical lens is a great and easy tool to practice in our daily lives. We organize various math walks and video tours to help grow wonderful mindset. Here, we outline some of the steps we take to interact with math in the world around us and to create place-based, math learning opportunities. This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant DRL 2115393. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in... CONTINUE READING

How is Spaceship One Uniquely Designed to Achieve its Goals?

  • September 9

SpaceShipOne is a rocket-powered aircraft with sub-orbital spaceflight capability at speeds of up to 3,000 ft/s (900 m/s). Its unique design features a “feathering” atmospheric reentry system where the rear half of the wing and the twin tail booms fold 70 degrees upward. Watch the video to understand the function of this unique design. Also, learn how you can do a simple experiment at home to see the rationale behind this design. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at th... CONTINUE READING

What Does it Mean to “Circumnavigate”?

  • September 9

Amelia Earhart was an American aviator who mysteriously disappeared in 1937 while trying to circumnavigate the globe from the equator. Earhart was the 16th woman to be issued a pilot’s license. She had several notable flights, including becoming the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1928, as well as the first person to fly over both the Atlantic and Pacific. Here, we explore what is meant, mathematically, by the term “circumnavigation.” Supplementary Activity Guides to extend... 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

What Materials Make Up the Apollo VII?

  • September 9

We notice that the bottom surface of the Command Module of the Apollo VII space mission looks different from the material making up the rest of the module. We learn that this difference is a critical part of the design of the module that brought home the crew of 3 astronauts in 1968. Further, the heat shield material that was developed for the command module’s bottom surface is now something we use in everyday life – great example of innovation that ends up being used far more widely than an... CONTINUE READING

Why is the Apollo VII shaped that way?

  • September 9

The Command Module of the Apollo VII mission has a truncated cone shape which was essential to its goals of leaving the earth's atmosphere and then safely re-entering the atmosphere to bring its crew back to Earth in 1968. Here, we wonder how the shape of the module was an important aspect of its design and learn about cone shapes, air resistance, and surface area. Supplementary Activity Guides to extend student learning at the Frontiers of Flight Museum for K-12 grade levels are freely availabl... CONTINUE READING