Week of Inspirational Math
This week in Dr. Drew's class, we did what was called "Week of Inspirational Math". The week of inspirational math was a mini project we did where every day, we did a new mini activity where we could practice our habits of a good mathematician. One day we tried to make different 3d shapes out of rope, other days we stacked pennies and figured out how many stacks of 3, 5, 6, and 9 we could make to equal 100. I think that the overall purpose of the week as a whole was to teach us the "Habits of a mathematician", and to start off our 10th grade year of math with some inspiration. Heres the full list of activities:
Activities
Day 1: I worked together with my table mates to create shapes from a square to a tetrahedron. Once we made the assigned shape we were to call over a teacher who posed as a skeptic who tried to find flaws in our geometrical designs for each shape. I think that this activity helped us with our teamwork skills because the shapes required all 4 of us at our table.
Day 2: We were given multiple patterns and we were to explore those patterns and find some similarities. Then on the back side of the paper we were given a task to figure out how to fit 100 pennies into a figure of 3, 5, 6, 7, and 9. I think that this activity main emphasis was to not give up, because we tried many different combinations until finding the right one.
Day 3: Our class was given the challenge of cutting a scalene triangle out using only one cut which as you can imagine was pretty challenging. This activity's main focus to me was to start small. I couldn't just draw a triangle on my paper, fold it, cut it out, and get it perfectly on my first try. I used other methods before getting to the triangle.
Day 4: Skipped
Day 5: We were given a worksheet where we were supposed to find squares within a rectangle. This activity used lots of patterns to help us visualize the amount of squares in each rectangle.
My favorite mini activity that we did was the folding paper activity we did on the third day. We folded a square piece of paper called "Patty Paper". It's supposed to be used to separate hamburger patties, but it's pretty good for folding as well. We folded it until we were able to cut out a scalene triangle with one single cut without using any edges. I had a fun time trying to figure it out, and actually practiced a lot of different habits of a mathematician. I practiced starting small, looking for patterns, and asking questions from peers and teachers to figure it out. I definitely struggled at first, but I eventually got it. I started by trying to fold it in a way where I could cut out a square with one cut. Once I got that, it made it a lot easier to visualize how to fold the paper to get a scalene triangle out of it. I also often looked for patterns in the folds. As you can see in the pictures below, theres some symmetry to the folds, and if you fold it just right you can get the exact triangle that you had originally drew.
Overall I really enjoyed "The Week of Inspirational Math" and learned a lot of different habits of a mathematician from it. I knew what the habits were, but it helped to really put them in perspective by trying these mini activities. A habit that I had never head of before, but I think will use for years to come, is starting small. It's always a good idea to start smaller instead of jumping right into it if you're not sure where to begin. I think that I can continue to use these habits moving forward in math class for my 10th grade year, and the years to come.