Bard Math Camp Day 2

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by

Tsitsi Mambo
in ,

Everyone arrived bright and early full of energy for the second day of CAMP! We began with a variety of warm-up activities to get our brains on track for more math and logic. We had teams learning to solve Rubik’s cubes, campers pairing up to play Rush Hour and other campers solving a variety of puzzles.

Soon after in computer science, we continued our challenge from the previous day with some groups going more in-depth to understand computers and other using NetLogo to make create variables such as turtles and cows that can draw squares in the language. They were challenged to be able to kill their turtles and perform various other actions on these variables. Their next challenge: Functions.

In Math class, campers reviewed information from yesterday and then dove deeper into fractals. They analyzed the rules for creating the Sierpinski Gasket fractal.  They began forming connections between the mathematical connection of fractals to their application in Computer Science.

Lastly, in Art, we began making our very own deck of cards! Each camper made their own set, with 4 houses. They had the option to make up their own houses or use the traditional hearts/spades/diamonds/clovers. We used stamps and various other art materials to create them.

At the end of the day we hiked to the Parliament of Reality and learned how to grass whistle. Others took their creativity to the studio and went painting and the last group had an intense Rubik’s cube championship.

-Tsitsi

Japheth Wood

I’m Japheth Wood (he/him), the Bard Math CAMP co-director, and a math professor at Bard College. CAMP (which is an acronym for Creative and Analytical Math Program) is a very special week of the year for our young math community. It's inspiring to see our students return year after year. This is our 11th summer of CAMP! We're back once again on the idyllic Bard College campus in Annandale-on-Hudson, and thankful to the CAMP students, parents, and staff, for making this mathemagical week happen. Notably, we've (finally) had our first CAMP reunion this past June, an event that I know will grow to be an integral part of what we do.

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Frances Stern

My name is Frances Stern (she/her/hers)! I’ve been teaching math at CAMP since the first year, making sure our math theme has a connection to art and computer. It’s fun to show students math that they don’t see in school. I've retired from daily teaching but continue to teach for the New York Math Circle & students who are seeking more math in their lives. My hobbies include learning to draw, paint, & juggle, reading, walking & folk dancing. I’ve written 2 books for teachers and parents called “Adding Math, Subtracting Tension” (for different age-ranges of children). They pay as much attention to how to keep out of a fight (what many parents told me is a problem) as they do to math.

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