UW-Madison joins math adventure

Several university locations are participating in the first “Great August Math Adventure” sponsored by Dane County Kids magazine.

Madison’s first community math initiative is designed to enrich math learning for children by applying it to various fields of study in a developmentally appropriate way.

As part of the adventure:

• The Elvehjem Museum of Art is offering an “Art Hunt,” in which the children find the geometry in such works as “Impression” by Barbara Hepworth, “Horizontal/Vertical” by Harvey Littleton, and “Sol IV” by Richard Anuszkiewicz.

• There are also geometry lessons to be learned at Allen Centennial Gardens, where children can explore the symmetry and shapes of the garden beds, paths and flowers.

• At the Geology Museum, the activities include looking at crystals in the museum’s collection and finding those shaped like cubes and dodecahedrons. With the aid of a graph that tracks the temperature at different depths inside the Earth, older children are invited to figure out how deep a diamond would have to be buried in order for it to start melting.

• At the West Madison Agricultural Research Station, kids and their families are given the opportunity to judge tomatoes, peppers and flowers based on their size, weight and quality. They weigh and measure the produce and vote for their favorite plant variety.

• Through the Celestial Connections information line (608) 262-4646 and the Space Place, the Astronomy Department is providing information on the Summer Triangle, which is visible in southern Wisconsin in mid-August.

Other community locations in the Great August Math Adventure are WMTV, Olbrich Botanical Gardens, the Henry Vilas Zoo, the Madison Art Center, the Aldo Leopold Nature Center, Madison Children’s Museum and the Wisconsin Historical Museum.