Hexaflexagons - back by popular demand!

We seem to have a holiday tradition of making hexaflexagons!

Here is a link to my favourite template for making tri-hexaflexagons:

• Aunt Annie's Tri-Hexaflexagons

Vi Hart's video about Hexaflexagons:

• Intro to hexaflexagons

Hour of Code Activities

Here are some great activities from code.org especially for the Hour of Code:

• Minecraft (new in 2018!)
• Dance Party (new in 2018!)
• Make a Basketball Game (new in 2018!)
• Artist (draw geometric designs with code)
• Frozen (if you liked Artist and want something similar)
• Make a Flappy Bird Game (make the bird avoid the obstacles)
• Classic Maze
• Star Wars

These are some fun activities that use mazes:

• Kodable 
• Light Bot (requires Flash)

For students who have done Hour of Code in past years, who like math, and who are looking for a real challenge:

• Encryption

Short Rube-Goldberg Motivational Videos

Some short videos to inspire your Rube-Goldberg machine:

• Ping-pong balls
• Piano playing
• Putting out the trash

On-line Math Games

These are some good on-line math games from websites other than Caribou Math.

• Speed Math Game
• Dots and Boxes
• Othello or Reversi
• Arrange
• Math Memory Game
• Connect Four
• Chess

These games are fun but won't work on a tablet because they need Flash or arrow keys:

• Flood Fill Practice (requires Flash)
• Sokoban Mini-Challenges
• Traditional Sokoban

Forces and Friction

What is a force?

• Fun Science Demos video

What is friction?

• Fun Science Demos video on Friction is a Force

Why do your hands warm up when you rub them together?

• Fun Science Demos shows an answer

Simple Machines - Research Starring Point

With your group, using the links below as your starting point, prepare answers to the following questions to share with the class:

1. What is the mechanical advantage of your simple machine? How does it make work easier?
2. What is the cost of making that work easier?
3. What are examples of your simple machine in everyday life?
4. How could you include this simple machine in a Rube-Goldberg Machine?

Lever

https://eschooltoday.com/science/simple-machines/what-is-a-lever.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n7dUtwejenQ

Wedge

https://eschooltoday.com/science/simple-machines/what-is-a-wedge.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=No5Df2231YA

Pulley

https://eschooltoday.com/science/simple-machines/what-is-a-pulley.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3Ru1zZjvug

Screw

https://eschooltoday.com/science/simple-machines/what-is-a-screw.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0chldL_bI8Q  Layla’s League

Wheel and Axle

https://eschooltoday.com/science/simple-machines/what-is-a-wheel-and-axle.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYoWCn5r3rQ 

- Can you also find out about how the wheel and axle is like a lever?

Incline Plane

https://eschooltoday.com/science/simple-machines/what-is-an-inclined-plane.html

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5c4J_PW9wsg

Here is an overview of the classical simple machines:

• Simple Machine Overview

Leaf Chromatography

In the autumn when leaves change colours, it is interesting to see if we can separate out all of the different colours that are found in leaves.

Here are some simple instructions for elementary school aged children to perform their own leaf chromatography experiment:

• Leaf Chromatography from Playdough to Plato

Potential and Kinetic Engergy

When making a Rube-Goldberg machine, it is important to remember to think about where the energy to keep your machine going will come from.

Learn about potential  and kinetic  energy:

• Potential and Kinetic energy video

Here's a explanation of elastic potential energy:

• Elastic Potential Energy from Flipping Physics (first 4 minutes are best)

The force of friction will also be important to consider:

• What is Friction?

Rube-Goldberg Motivation

Here are some really neat videos to give ideas about how to build a Rube-Goldberg machine:

• Simple Rube Goldberg Machine from TinkerLab
• Rube-Goldberg using Six Simple Machines
• Rube-Goldberg on America's Got Talent (start at 2 min for the machine)
• Thirteen Different Rube Goldberg "Tricks"

A longer video showcasing a number of more complicated machines:

• Top Five Rube Goldberg Machines

Steven Price ("Sprice") has developed a number of well-done Rube-Goldberg machines. His YouTube channel can be found here:

• Sprice - All Chain Reactions 

This is a short example that has a lot of ideas that are easy for students to create with everyday objects:

• Design and Build a Rube-Goldberg Machine from TeachEngineering.org

Organizing an Astronaut's Life

Astronauts need to be very wise in their use of time when in space. Crews on earth plan the daily tasks that every astronaut must complete every day, in five-minute intervals. Times for meals, exercise, sleep and free-time are all planned. This article explains some of the things that must be considered when scheduling an astronaut's day:

• What Do Astronaut's Do All Day?

In his book "Endurance", astronaut Scott Kelly talks about the challenges of returning to daily life on earth, after living about the ISS for a year, because he was suddenly responsible for organizing his own time.

Chris Hadfield - An Astronaut's Guide to Life in Space Videos

Canadian Chris Hadfield was a NASA astronaut who filmed numerous videos while he was living on the International Space Station in 2013. Here are a selection:

• Tears in space
• Canadian Space Food
• Chris Controls Canadarm2
• How Math is Used in Space
• Exercise on the ISS

For more videos, go to Chris Hadfield's website:

• Chris Hadfield

Balancing Apples

Fall is a time I look forward to because fresh Ontario apples become readily available!

Sometimes it is fun to do other things with apples, rather that just eat them. Here's an activity to try that uses paper apples to do a cool "trick":

• Apple Balancing Activity

Paper Helicopters

Here are some great instructions for making a paper helicopter and interesting questions to explore once it is made:

• Roto-copter instructons

More About Rockets

What it is like to ride in the Soyuz rocket into orbit, as told by Chris Hadfield:

• The Soyuz Experience, Chris Hadfield

How fins can help a model rocket:

• Water rocket with and without fins

Landing of a Soyuz capsule:

• Astronaut Tim Peake's landing

Paper Rocket Areodynamics

How can a simple paper rocket be created? How can the design be changed to make the rocket fly farther and with more stability?

Check out these interesting links!

Watch a Soyuz rocket launch:

• Soyuz rocket launch, February 2018
• Soyuz rocket launch from National Geographic

Simple instructional video of how to build a paper rocket:

• Paper Rocket Instructional Video

Background information:

• Paper Rocket Aerodynamics on Science Buddies
• Build a Paper Rocket from Scientific American
• Paper rockets and the scientific method on Science Buddies

Sokoban - Next Game on the Caribou Contest

For the upcoming Caribou Contest, here are some good places to practice Sokoban.

• Introduction to Sokoban (slightly non-traditional)
• Medium Level Sokoban puzzles
• Caribou Contest Sokoban (most challenging)

Tomatosphere Experiment

Since 2001, students across Canada and the United States have been testing how exposure to space or space-like conditions affects the germination rate of tomatoes.

Here is the introductory video:

• Intro to Tomatosphere

Here is the Tomatosphere home page

• http://tomatosphere.letstalkscience.ca/
• Tomatosphere Information

Interactive, computer-simulated tomato growing experiments:

• Fair Test Interactive Demo

Flood Fill Practise

Here is a Flood Fill style game to practice for the Caribou Contest. You will need to enable Flash for it to work. It's not quite the same as the contest, but it is fun to practice with.

• MyPuzzles.org - Flood Fill

For the actual contest, it will be this Flood Fill game:

• Caribou Math Flood Fill

Pi Day 2018

Although school will be out for March Break on Pi Day (March 14), we will celebrate as soon as we return.

• Special recognition of students who memorize digits of pi (Link to a helpful song)
• Some excellent Pi Day activities from the centre where is all started - Exploratorium
• Check out the Pi Day website for many, many interesting things about pi!

Pi Day Mathematical Jokes:

• Can you recite pi? Yes! Apple, cherry, blueberry...
• 3.14 percent of sailors are pi-rates.
• What is the official animal of Pi Day? The pi-thon.
• The mathematician says, “Pi r squared.” The baker replies, “No, pies are round. Cakes are square."
• What do you get when you take a bovine and divide its circumference by its diameter? A cow pi.
• Do you know any statistics jokes? Yeah, but they're mean.
• What do you get when you take the sun and divide its circumference by its diameter? Pi in the sky.
• Never talk to pi. He'll go on forever.

Cool Optical Illusions

Here are some interesting optical illusions:

• Optical Illusions

These really show us that is it our brain, as well as our eyes, that is needed to see!

Ball Launcher Challenge

This year, students, working in pairs, will participate in the Science Buddies Ball Launcher Challenge.

Here is a link to the introductory video:

• Ball Launcher Challenge

Arithmeic Practice

To hep practice for the Caribou Math Contest (and for math class in general), here is an arithmetic practice game that is simple, configurable (and at the time of this posting, ad-free):

• Arithmetic Game

Starting with Spheros

Spheros are small, remotely programmable robots that about the size and shape of a tennis ball.

When you first want to program a Sphero using the SpheroEdu app, a good place to start is:

• Introduction to Block Programming with Spheros using SpheroEdu

During the above activity you will be asked to program your Sphero to go in a square.

Tangram Resource

Here's a great collection of tangram puzzles!

• Aunt Annie's Crafts - Tangram Puzzles

Dedicated followers of this blog may remember Aunt Annie's page from our hexaflexagon fun.