Student Workshops

There will be six workshops offered, and students and adults can choose four of them to attend throughout the day.  The workshops will be aimed at the students, but parents and teachers are welcome to attend.

1. DO FISH HAVE EARS?

1. Acoustics is the study of sound.  In this workshop we will explore ideas related to acoustics, such as "If a tree falls in the woods and there is no-one there, does it make a sound?" and "Do fish have ears?". We will also talk about things such as how ultrasound works in medicine and how SONAR is being used to look for the Loch Ness Monster!
   

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3. Dr. Caroline Lubert, Professor of Mathematics, JMU
   

2. WHY IS A DOUGHNUT LIKE A COFFEE CUP?

1. Topology is the study of shape, and how we can tell shapes apart.  In this
   

2. workshop we will explore the Euler characteristic, an amazing
   

3. mathematical idea that can distinguish topological shapes.  This is math
   

4. as you've never seen it before!  Come and learn why topologists have
   

5. trouble with their breakfasts.
   

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7. Dr. Laura Taalman, Associate Professor of Mathematics, JMU
   

3. PROBABILITY GAMES

1. Students will develop strategies to winning game shows such as 'Deal or No
   

2. Deal' and 'Let's Make a Deal'. Students will see the uses and/or effects of
   

3. randomness, variation, and probability.  Determine if you can be a winner!
   

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5. Dr. Samantha Prins, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, JMU
   

4. TESSELLATIONS

1. What is a tessellation?  Which regular polygons will tessellate the plane?  Who was M.C. Escher?  In this workshop, we will experiment with regular polygons that snap together to see which ones will tessellate the plane and why.  Then we will create our own Escher-like tessellation art projects. 
   

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3. Dr. Elizabeth Arnold, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, JMU
   

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5.  HOW TO GET LOST

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2. Getting lost is always possible, but it's easier to do with a bad map. On
   

3. the other hand, there is an excellent reason that there are no completely
   

4. accurate flat maps of Earth--such an object is mathematically impossible.
   

5. We will discuss the mathematical compromises that mapmakers must
   

6. negociate. This in turn illuminates the nature of mathematical discovery,
   

7. and non-existence or impossibility proofs.
   

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9. Dr. Elizabeth Theta Brown, Assistant Professor of Mathematics, JMU
   

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6.  BARCODES AND CLOCKS

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2. You're at the convenience store, and the checkout clerk just can't get the scanner to read the barcode on your package of chips.  Finally, with a sigh, the clerk types in a code, only to have it rejected with a beep!  How does the
   

3. scanner know that the clerk made a mistake?  And what does this have to do with crazy clocks?  Find out about barcodes and their relationship to clock arithmetic in this session.
   

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5. Dr. Jeanne Fitzgerald, Associate Professor of Mathematics, JMU
   

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