Math-a'Licious!

Today was a great day for the Math-a’licious Discovery Term! We started off the day playing Frisbee Golf at SAS, a game that incorporates parabolas and different curves in the trajectory that the Frisbee travels. But above all: the game was really fun! We returned to the upper school to watch a video on different ways math has been woven into art over the centuries, in preparation for our trip to the North Carolina Museum of Art. After the video, we went to the NCMA for a tour and to explore the grounds. On each piece of art in the tour, we paused to discuss different the different ways that math fit into the paintings. A common theme among the paintings is the use of parallel lines to establish perspective, and to give depth to different scenes. After our tour, we ate lunch in front of the museum. Following our lunch, we took a walk on the scenic trails around the Museum, and finally returned back to CA. Upon our return, we played a short game of touch football on the Quad, and finished out our day by planning for our presentation on Friday.

Edit: The museum was really picky about pictures so here’s a representation of what it looked like

(Made in Powerpoint)

Today we went back to Tic Toc Escapes and Duke Chapel. We started off the day with some group strategy games. Then we returned to the Tic Toc Escapes. We split up into our previous two groups at Tic Toc escapes. The group that previously did the “Green Room” did the “Locker Room” this time and the group that previously did the “Locker Room” did the “Green Room” this time. After that, we had lunch at Southpoint Mall. Our third non-school destination was Duke Chapel at Duke University, where we were given a tour and saw the pipe organ. We finished out the day playing Telephone Pictionary back at Cary Academy.

Today, we began a day-long ambitious project that involved the study of fractals, replicating patterns on different scales. The final goal was a 10 foot tall pyramid made completely out of smaller pyramids, made out of smaller pyramids, etc., all of which was completely made out of individual balloons. We split up into groups and spent a good amount of time blowing up balloons, while some other people began the process of tying balloons together to form pyramids. After a while, we moved out into the hall to begin the process of arranging and tying the separate pyramids together, forming larger and larger structures. The end result was impressive, a large colorful pyramid that reached the ceiling. After lunch, we began the process of planning our biggest challenge: the escape room.

Today we were back at Cary Academy.  From 8:00 to 9:00, we played group strategy games. From 9:00 to 9:40, we did an origami group activity, led by Ethan Norfleet. From 9:40 to 10:40, we had a C-Block break on the quad. From 10:40 to 11:30, we had a DT presentation planning session, led by Miriam Weathers. From 11:30 to 12:30, We did logic puzzles. From 12:30 – 1:30, we had lunch. From 1:30 to 2:30, we continued our DT presentation planning, led by Miriam Weathers. From 2:30 to 3:15, we played group strategy games.

Today we went to Tic Toc Escapes, an escape room, in Raleigh, North Carolina. To start off the day we walked on the Cross Country Trails. After that, we watched Fermat’s Room, a movie about four mathematicians escaping from a room by solving puzzles. Before we went to the escape room, we stopped at Carmen Village for lunch. After that, we split up into two groups at Tic Toc escapes. One group did the “Green Room”,  a music themed room and the other did the “Locker Room”, a sports themed room. We finished out the day with some group strategy games back at Cary Academy.

We continued our math adventures with another day at Leesville Road Elementary School. We, once again, started the day off with by walking a few laps around the track and then left for Leesville. Once at Leesville, we did some simple math activities that included logic and addition with the first graders. After that, we continued to tutor the fourth graders. Lunch was, once again, at Crabtree Valley Mall. We finished off the day with some group strategy games.

The members of Math-a-licious started off Discovery Term by traveling to the Leesville Elementary School in Raleigh to tutor fourth graders–budding math students. Upon arriving at the school, we introduced ourselves to a class of fourth graders and got to work. Each of the Cary Academy students worked with one or two of the Leesville students, helping them with math concepts and giving them example problems for practice. The topics ranged from operations with fractions and decimals to word problems with area and perimeter. For us Upper School students, for years we have been doing these kinds of problems every day in our math classes. However, teaching these topics to others was a bit of a challenge. It has been a long time since many of us have had to explain fundamental fraction concepts to someone else. Trying to think of ways to explain concepts that now come as natural to us tested our own conceptual understanding of basic math. However, the first day of tutoring was a great success, and I believe the children at the school had a better understanding of math concepts afterward. To finish our day, we ate lunch at the Crabtree Valley Mall food court, walked around the mall a bit, and returned to school for some board games. Day One was a great success.