MATH is BEAUTIFUL!

MATH IS BEAUTIFUL! Today, high school math teacher Dr. Darwin Mills came and showed the beauty of mathematics. His energy kept us on our toes and his teaching made us all want to guess what math problem he was going to give us next! His unique methods for teaching and his innate ability to capture the attention of the entire group left the campers AND the teachers wishing that Dr. Mills had been their math teacher in school.

Below is an example of one kind of math we learned today called "pretty math":


1 x 8 + 1 = 9
12 x 8 + 2 = 98
123 x 8 + 3 = 987
1234 x 8 + 4 = 9876
12345 x 8 + 5 = 98765
123456 x 8 + 6 = 987654
1234567 x 8 + 7 = 9876543
12345678 x 8 + 8 = 98765432 (The Doorway)

It may be a hot August day, but we were all wearing our mittens as we investigated Mr. Levering's scientific question: "How do mittens keep us warm?" We worked with temperature probes and the computer program Logger Lite to further explore this question. The campers learned that it's not the mitten that produces heat, but the individual's body heat. This body heat is then trapped inside the mitten and keeps us warm.

After we conducted our scientific experiment with mittens, we transitioned to a job as mathematical problem-solvers "on the farm". Here is a picture of one of our mathematicians using his problem-solving in the cow pasture:

Then we tested our memory with an exciting game led by Virginia Beach's own Dawn Sawyer, a gifted resource teacher, and Susan Hudgins, a math specialist.

OOOOBLECK!!! This word is as messy and exciting as the activity we did today. Corn starch and water are the perfect combination for a gooey, sticky mess that kids love! This activity was led by Ms. Adams, a Senior in Regent University's Interdisciplinary Studies program, and a teacher's assistant in the Chesapeake schools. Below is a video of Ms. Adams and a few of the kids experiencing the excitement of Oobleck:

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ICE CREAM! Our final big activity for the day was making ice cream! The kids loved this tasty treat--not just because it tasted great but because they each got to make their own individual bag of ice cream! Here is a "taste" of the yumminess we prepared:

Here is the recipe for the icecream!

Today was an exciting--practical application--math-filled day that ended in a tasty ice cream treat! For all our campers and teachers, this is Rebekah, signing out.