You Be The STEMist Day 2

Engineering Mini Smart Homes—where campers think big as they build microstructures filled with high-tech gadgets! Today we dreamed up and designed a smart home that does what we program it to do, and functions on renewable energy.  This week we will use CAD Design skills and 3D print unique furniture and accessories to fill and outfit homes with ecofriendly solutions.

We teach inspirational math lessons and prove that being good at math isn’t about quickly doing mental math or solve problems. We teach to think deeply, truly understand a topic, and make connections. We often think we need to know all the answers instantly. But, the most celebrated and well known mathematicians are, in fact, self declared slow thinkers!

Using circles we'll  figure out that 3.14 diameters fit around circles, no matter what their size. We calculate by hand and work together with three different diameters to discover that each circle’s circumference is always three plus a little bit more, or 3.14. Students recite many decimals of pi beyond 3.14. Ask your child how many numbers they can remember past 3.14. Hint: 3.14159265359. We'll end our day with a STEM Math Camp tradition, "PI THE COUNSELOR!" 

Mathematics studies patterns in nature in many different forms and types. They can be a simple repeating number (1⁄3 or .333) or a complex Fibonacci Sequence or Pascal’s Triangle. The Fibonacci Sequence is a pattern found throughout nature, design, art and architecture. Can you find the pattern: 1,1,2,3,5,8,13,21,34,55? 

Here’s the answer! Take the previous number, and add it to the next. (Ex., 1+1 = 2, 1+2 = 3, 2+3 = 5, 3+5 = 8, 5+8 = 13, 8+13 = 21, and so on.

Have you heard of someone called a “math person,” or did you think you don't have the “right brain” for math? Math is like any other skill in life! The more you practice and push yourself, the better you become. Try this! Make every number between 1-20 by using any math operation (+, -, x, etc.) with four number 4’s. For example, make 16 by 4+4+4+4=16. It gets tricky as you use all of the 4’s, but for some numbers, use parenthesis. You'll be surprised by how many numbers you create!