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Alhambra
Mosaics - Visitors use magnetic tiles to complete the mosaic
pattern on the Alhambra walls.
Alhambra
- Visitors see a large architectural structure with several
activity nooks. The structure is partly covered with tiles in periodic
patterns which are reminiscent of the rich tiling patterns found on the
real Alhambra in Spain
Alhambra
Nook Escher - Visitors examine an artist's drawing table
which shows Escher's sketches of the Alhambra's mosaics and his playful
extensions of its mathematical patterns in his art.
Alhambra
Nook Geometric Grids - Visitors match pieces of art to geometric
patterns, and then confirm their matches with a light box that reveals
the underlying mathematical patterns within the art.
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 related
teacher manual page
links
of interest on the WWW
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Seven
Strip - Amidst artifacts from many cultures, visitors turn,
flip-up, move , and flip-over a single motif to create their own strip
patterns, or recreate periodic patterns seen in the objects. |
related
teacher manual page
museum
explainers or demos
links
of interest on the WWW |
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Hall
of Mirrors - Visitors make use of colorful floor tiles in a
mirrored room to explore such concepts as reflective symmetry, periodicity
and infinity. |
related
teacher manual page
museum
explainers or demos
links
of interest on the WWW
larger
pictures |
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Plant
Patterns - Visitors discover the Fibonacci number sequence
by counting petals and branches in larger
than life flowers and
images of plants found in nature. |
related
teacher manual page
museum
classroom activities
links
of interest on the WWW |
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Shell
Puzzle -
Visitors use similarly shaped pieces of different sizes
to create the spiral of a nautilus shell. Real shells can be touched and
explored on the back of the Fibonacci bench.
Spiraling
squares - Visitors create a spiral by piecing together a series
of squares. The sides of each square (3 by 3 , 5 by 5, 8 by 8 etc.)
in this puzzle are always equal to the sum of the sides of two smaller
squares, replicating a Fibonacci sequence.
Fibonacci Bench
- Visitors walk into a Fibonacci spiral, twisting ever more
tightly inward until they come to a seat at the very center. |
related
teacher manual page
museum
classroom activities
links
of interest on the WWW
larger
pictures |
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Periodic
Tiling - Visitors use brightly colored shapes (regular polygons)
to create patterns that go on forever, and recreate the base shape at larger
and larger scales (adjacent to Penrose) |
related
teacher manual page
museum
explainers or demos
links
of interest on the WWW
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Penrose
Tiling -
Visitors add Penrose tiles to an existing Penrose pattern.
The resulting puzzle shows pentagons and other 5-fold symmetries, but these
symmetries don't last. (These pictures are from the prototype exhibit.)
Crystals and Quasi-Crystals
- Visitors manipulate rod and ball models to explore the three
dimensional symmetries of crystals. Nearby, visitors can visually explore
a 3-D crystalline version of a Penrose tiling - the quasi-crystal. |
related
teacher manual page
links
of interest on the WWW
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Fractal
Coastline - Visitors use baby feet and giant feet in attempt
to fine the "true" length of a fractal coastline whose theoretical length
is infinite. |
museum
classroom activity
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of interest on the WWW
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Flock
of Boids -
Visitors see alternating images of real birds flocking
and computer simulations which generate the same behaviors with only three
rules. |
links
of interest on the WWW |
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Chaos
- Visitors create and explore a variety of computer generated
fractal images (grow trees/bushes, create continents and oceans, chart
weather predictions, zoom in on Mandelbrot images, etc.) |
museum
classroom activity
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of interest on the WWW |
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Double
Pendulums - Visitors cooperate to release two double pendulums
at the same time from the same place. Tiny differences in their initial
positions force each pendulum to trace out a different, erratic paths after
only a few seconds. |
links
of interest on the WWW
larger
pictures |
