SPROUTS, a wonderful place for exploring math and science in Somerville -- check it out!

by Alec Resnick 

Sprout is an educational nonprofit which is starting up 

its first big season of programs in the next few weeks.

You can find a full listing at the programs;theprograms 

as well as more information about their open studios in 

Davis Square ourstudios.  What follows are some short 

descriptions of their math- and science-focused programs 

appropriate for both youth and adults in the area.  

Significant financial support is available, so if you'd 

like to make arrangements (or if you have any other 

questions), feel free to email Alec Resnick at
alec@thesprouts.org.

- EXPLORING MATH THROUGH COMPUTATION, AND VICE VERSA
turtlegeometry is a thirteen-week, hands-on seminar 

exploring how we can actively and personally explore 

questions of computer science, topology, and 

differential geometry using the programming languages 

Ruby, Processing, and Scratch.  In particular, this 

course will focus on exploring and unifying the 

aesthetic and computational aspects of these fields. 

No formal background in computer science or math beyond 

basic comfort with algebra is required.  There will be 

three tracks: one for educators and parents, one for youth, 

and one for a general audience.  Email Alec at
alec@thesprouts.org; if you have any questions or check 

out the seminar site turtlegeometry; for more details.

- ECOMODDING YOUR HOME eventbrite is a two month
seminar focused on identifying and implementing simple 

strategies to reduce electricity consumption. In this 

seminar, we'll use a special power strip developed at 

sprout. This power strip enables you to see how and 

when your appliances use electricity and ensure they 

only use electricity when you want them to--whether 

that means turning off your TV's standby mode 

while you're at work or dimming your lamp when its 

sunny outside.  This is accomplished by programming 

the microcontrollers which control the power strip--

a skill participants will be introduced to through 

this seminar.  No background in electronics or 

programming is required.

- FLUTES AND WAVES flutesandwaves is a weekend 

workshop in which participants will build their own 

flutes and begin to explore the acoustical qualities 

of those instruments.  Interested participants will 

have the chance to exlpore how their flute design 

affects their instrument's acoustics using a spectrum 

analyzer and working to understand the underlying 

physics of what's going on inside the flute. 

Instrument design is an amazing mix of craft and 

science--despite how much we know, we don't know 

much about how the finer points of instruments' 

sound work. This is a two-day workshop and studio 

(10AM-4PM on two, consecutive Saturdays) exploring 

how flutes are made, and how their design controls 

what sorts of sounds they can make.  This workshop 

is appropriate for people coming at it from the 

musical, acoustical, or simply interested perspectives. 

Email shaunalynn@thesprouts.org if you have any 

questions.

- DIGITAL GARDENING dg.eventbrite is a one day 

workshop coordinated by Keith Simmons, co-designer 

of the Wireplant microcontroller kit. Hosted at the 

MIT Museum, this workshop leads participants through 

the basic electronics and practical skills needed 

to understand and assemble an Arduino-controlled 

moisture sensor which lets you explore sensing 

and measurement in gardening.

- SIMULATION AND NATURE IN DESIGN nervous.eventbrite

is a thirteen-week, project-driven seminar exploring 

how computation and simulation can be used to take 

inspiration from the processes and phenomena of the 

natural world to produce physical and virtual

objects. Facilitated by Jesse Louis-Rosenberg 

(co-founder of the Nervous System n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com 

design studio), this seminar will explore how we can 

understand natural forms—from leaf venation 

to the growth of coral—with computational tools.  

Email jesse@n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com if you have any 

questions or check out the seminar site 

n-e-r-v-o-u-s.com/education for more details.

East Somerville Community School's Math Night

On March 26th, I had the pleasure of attending this year's East Somerville Community School Math event. While teacher and organizer, Linda Wiegenfeld, was teaching the parents and answering their questions, their children were playing mathematical games led by other teacher volunteers.

The parents were interested in learning other ways to approach topics such as division and in having their questions answered about math topics they never learned while in school, such as "outliers." It was interesting to see parents who had grown-up in other countries approached division with different algorithms than those of us who grew up in the US schools. Meanwhile, Linda Wiegenfeld was teaching yet another way to approach division, one that was more intuitive and representative of what is actually happening when you divide.

After joining the parents group for a while, I also visited the rooms where the students were playing mathematical games and enjoyed a game of Mancala with a couple of girls after watching students energetically playing a game of "baseball" using dice.

The event ended with everyone eating pizza, generously donated by the Bickoff family. Linda Wiegenfeld was a Somerville Mathematics Fund teacher grant winner who used her grant money to support this event and to buy the games that she also uses in her classroom at ESCS.

Be sure to read Delia Marshall's article on this event in the Somerville Journal.

Common Core Standards

There is a push by the governors from 48 of the states to have a coordinated curriculum k-12 in mathematics and English-Language Arts. To do this they have commissioned the writing of the Common Core which were released for public review in March.

The "Common Core" is worth your reading and considering what might be the expectations for our students and children in the not too distant future.
The NCTM is one of the organizations who has taken the time to review and write comments about the contents, sequencing, expectations, etc of the mathematics Common Core. You might want to read the NCTM comments.