One section is "Solving Problems" and its components are
trimmed in
terra cotta.
| p |
|
Introduction to Graphs - Visitors sort various dot/linerepresentations to match real world and abstract relationships shown. The unit lights up and dumps out when correct matches are made. | ||||||
| p |
|
Critical Path - Visitors order morning tasks to leave the house in record time - a problem related to managing the Apollo space program. | ||||||
| p |
|
Perfect Matching - To staff a block party, visitors connect each multi-skilled person with a particular job to ensure that all jobs are filled with appropriately skilled personnel. |
|
|||||
| p |
|
Nine Fire Stations - Visitors are challenged to place fire stations on a city grid to provide full protection with the least number of stations. The unit lights up and dumps out when the entire city is protected. |
|
|||||
| p |
|
Traveling
Salesperson - Visitors try to figure the shortest way to circumnavigate
the globe via cities shown on a large
globe. The globe lights their route and calculates their mileage as they go. |
||||||
| p |
|
3-Utility - Visitors try to connect each of three houses to each of three utilities on each of three differently shaped surfaces. The number of holes in the surface affects the solution. (The prototype used wipe-off marker, but that was too expensive) |
||||||
| p |
|
4 Color Mapping - Visitors use pieces of four different colors to complete maps and color graphs - learning that for maps (graphs) on a plane, you never need more than four colors. A seven-color torus study model is included. Again, the number of holes in map's surface affects the solution. |
||||||
| p |
|
Brachistochrone - Visitors place competing cars on straight and curved tracks. They discover that the quickest route is not always the shortest or straightest. |
|
|||||
| p |
|
Coding - Visitors watch animated sequences that explain how satellite information is sent to earth in coded form and later decoded. Visitor gets a chance to be the computer, detecting and correcting errors in a sample code that has been degraded with noise. In another game, visitors, experience how some codes can correct far more errors than others. |
Link
to the main Beyond Numbers Table of Contents
Link
to the Playing with Abstractions section
Link
to the Finding Patterns section
Link
to Teacher Manual Table of Contents
Link
to Maryland Science Center
Link
to Eisenhower Consortium
Cathy
Brady's home site
cathysfiddle@yahoo.com