Saturday

I went to the "Candy Sharing Game" on Saturday and wanted to briefly let my classmates know how much of a learning experience it was for me. To be honest, it was a challenge for me to be able to communicate to little kids what we were trying to do. By the end of the day I felt as if I had made a difference in these small children's lives. I highly encourage my classmates to get involved. It's very motivating to see these children be so enthusiastic over concepts that we adults tend to complain about.

And so that was my Saturday. . . :)

Stats and Kids!

On Sat. afternoon last week, I took my 7 year old daughter to the library to volunteer for the River Bend Math Center. We had such a great time, and learned alot in the meantime! There were 3 activities that we participated in, one included a beach ball globe, another with letters, and the 3rd using M&M's these items don't sound much like what would be used to teach statistics but nonetheless, they provided great interactive opportunities for the kids's to learn from. One of the most impressive things to me, was that we had some participants that weren't kids but instead had some learning disability so that these activities were fun and a great way to learn something new even for adult/young adults. I met several nice kids and older people too, one adult woman really impressed me. She was very intelligent but struggled a bit socially or developmenatally, and she was just amazing during the beach ball experiment.
The idea was to learn with repeated sampling that we could get accurate and consistent results. The participant was told that the earth was made up of 75% water, then they were asked to hold up their pointer finger and I tossed the ball to them, wherever their pointer finger landed they said either, "land or water". Someone else recorded the results and after about 10 tosses, we looked at the results to determine if their fingers landed more often on land or water, The results showed that most times for obvious reasons they landed on water, and then the participants gave their ideas about why that happened. Well, the woman I mentioned would also comment on the land that her pointed to, and taught us a bit of geography!
My daughter was writing down fractions, and talking about proportions while using M&M's! Another young man had fun interviewing people about the spelling of their name, then using paper cut out letters he spelled each name and determined the mean, median, and mode for the number of letters his sample of names had! These were kids' doing statistics! It was so much fun, and a great way to fun while learning.

stats at the library

I had my second experience volunteering at the library. Today we introduced the kids to statistics. I was in charge of the activity using a beach ball globe. The kids tossed it to each other to see if their finger would land on water or land when they caught it. We used the results to find the percentages. The kids also used different colored M&M’s to find proportion, decimal, and percentages. Cards with letters on them were used spell names then find the mean, medium and mode using the letters of the name. It was a great experience helping the kids of different ages and different learning levels. Some of them were slower and some of them were real bright. I also got to meet a few other volunteers and parents.

family math activity - statistics

Today I volunteered with the family math activity. We did fun statistics activities. The activity that I was mostly involved with involved counting M&M's, making a frequency distribution histogram, then calculating the proportion, decimal, and percentage of M&M's and comparing that to the national average for each color. Needless to say, the kids really enjoyed this activity. We definitely should have done this in our class when we were learning this stuff. Another activity involved the kids taking a small sample of people's first names and then using letters to spell out each name and finding the mean, median, and mode of the number of letters in a person's name. This was interesting because the letters made it easy to visualize the concept.

clinic

I finally got to work at the homework clinic at the library. It was my third attempt. The first time a family emergency came up. The second time we got snowed in. They say the third time is always a charm. It was interesting. It allows you to brush up on your math. One lady even said she liked the way I explained it because it made it easier for her. Imagine that, me explaining numbers. One girl was doing things way beyond me.

family math activity

Today I volunteered at the family math activity held at the public library by the Riverbend Math Community Center. Again, I felt totally out of my comfort zone in explaining stuff that' s difficult for me, but I learned so much and had a great time in the process. The activity that I helped with today had to do with using materials such as little lightbulbs, batteries, and wires to make the lightbulbs light up and working with logic puzzles. I was impressed by how smart these kids were and how patient even the youngest ones were in trying different methods to make the lightbulbs light up. It certainly seems like sometimes kids have more patience and persistence in stepping out of their comfort zones to try something new than adults do and this certainly applies to learning statistics! I must admit these little kids were inspiring to me as I trudge on through my semester that at times can be very frustrating!

Our Project Presented at Wal-Mart Meeting

Hi guys,

Steve Antonetti, Market Manager of Wal-Mart, invited me to give a presentation about our project to approximately 30 store managers who were attending a regional Wal-Mart meeting. The reason why I was invited to attend this meeting was because our project nicely aligns with Wal-Mart's "Personal Sustainability Project," which is an effort for Wal-Mart employees to select a personal goal that fits with the notion of sustainability. (For example, some employees are reducing their soda-can footprint by drinking less pop in favor of drinking more water.)

So yesterday, I trekked out to Michigan City, IN to give this presentation. The presentation, I think, went well. (Admittedly, it's hard for me to evaluate how well it went because I'm a tough self-critic, but Steve called me later to say it was great, so you'll have to take his word for it!) Anyway, I discussed several facts about the consumption of plastic bags and what we're doing to make some changes in our community.

Afterwards, some of the store managers said they wanted to get involved. Hopefully, the folks at the Wal-Mart store in Mishawaka will get on-board with the project. Another store manager near Gary, IN said he wanted to bring our project to his location. So, maybe one day this project will be brought to a larger level. (But one step at a time, what we're doing is already ambitious! This is what researchers would consider "future research".) And of course, I asked for underwriting support to cover Royte's honorarium and travel expenses. So, please keep your fingers crossed! ;0)

Besides my presentation, it was an eye-opening experience for me to observe what goes on at these meetings. Because I'm a psychologist, I never see how statistics gets applied to the business world. But I kid you not: what you're learning in class applies to the real-world, including business. I listened to a representative from Kimberly-Clark (these are the folks that make products such as Huggies diapers, Kleenex tissue, paper towels, and so on) discuss the importance of selling their products at Wal-Mart by relying on statistics. To give you a couple examples, he had a visual display of the U.S. marked in different colors to indicate the peak cold and flu season. According to his data, 40% of their profits are earned during the Dec-Feb period, presumably because people are sick and are therefore purchasing Kleenex. In another graph, he showed a direct relationship between the purchase of Depends (um, diapers for the elderly...I'm sure there's a better way of saying that!) and the time of month they're purchased. Apparently, the elderly are more likely to buy Depends at the beginning of the month. The Rep suggested this was because social-security checks are dispensed around the same time period.

Amazing!

Just given these few observations, I learned how important it is for me to teach statistics well. That's definitely my commitment to you. And I sincerely hope that whatever lesson(s) you learn this semester will be beneficial to you in the future. Ok, time for me to sign-off now before I get too cheesy! :0) M

Workshop Schedule

For those of you who would like to learn how to make tote bags from reused plastic bags, please take note: Jennifer will be holding a two-part workshop (see schedule below). For the first workshop (Part 1), Jennifer will teach us how to cut the bags into strips to create "yarn" for the tote bags. For the second workshop (Part 2), Jennifer will teach us how to crochet those plastic strips to create tote bags and other crafts. She will also give us patterns so that we can practice at home. Please be advised that you should attend one Part 1 session and one Part 2 session. To accommodate most schedules, Jennifer has agreed to come to campus on the following dates:

Part 1 Workshop Dates (location TBA)

• Monday, Feb. 19th, 4pm--6pm
• Wednesday, Feb. 21th, 10am--12pm
• Saturday, Feb. 24th, 1pm--3pm

Part 2 Workshop Dates (location TBA)

• Wednesday, Feb. 28th, 4pm--6pm
• Saturday, Mar. 3rd, 1pm--3pm

I will have sign-up sheets next week so that Jennifer can get a sense of how many students will be attending each workshop. And I will announce the workshop location in class next week. Hopefully, these workshops will teach us a fun and creative skill, which will also prepare us for the service-learning activity at the Logan Center.

By the way, I hope you like the snowman that Jennifer made from plastic bags! :0) M

Science Alive

I also had a great time on Saturday. Coming away from it, I would argue that it was a HUGE success! First off, I was blown away by how many people were there! Second, having walked around a little bit, I thought the exhibits were great and very diverse, and overall, I was just amazed at how enthusiastic the kids really were about it! I admit, if my mom told me I was going to go to a math and science fair at the library when I was a kid, I probably would NOT be too happy about it. However, my preconceived notions would have been entirely wrong. The kids honestly had an absolute blast and were able to create and participate in hundreds of interactive experiements that were mostly about "real life" scnearios that we often don't take the time to REALLY think about. They were all eager to learn and try new things, and they were sincerely interested in how and why things worked the way they did. I was VERY impressed!

I was also surprised at how enthusiastic, patient, and supportive the parents were...despite the dangerously frigid temperatures, the huge crowds, and screaming children. Furthermore, I couldn't believe how many volunteers there were! I guess the take-home message for me was that science and math, and the effort to make it applicable to every child in a hands-on, practical way, is an issue that THOUSANDS of people are extremely passionate about! Admittedly, I had no idea.

Overall, I really enjoyed myself! I thought it was so refreshing to see SO many people truly enjoying themselves in what I would call an educational setting. I had tons of fun with the kids, and it was also great to be able to hang out with classmates in a place outside of the classroom. I am extremely grateful to Michelle for finding this volunteer opportunity for us, and to the Serenevy's for allowing us to be part of their wonderful exhibit.

That's about all I have to say about that. (Except, I didn't get a cool free pen!) :)

Science Alive Event

I was up at 7:30 a.m. on a Saturday and I was tired. The library parking was closed and I was mad. It was freezing cold outside and all I could find was parking with about a five minute walk. I walked in and was greeted by Amanda. From there on, the rest of my day was awesome and humorous. Kim and I tried to figure out the puzzle without success. Then I got to watch Melissa and her friend try to figure out the puzzle as well without success. Volunteering at the Science Alive Event was a really good experience. I loved watching the kids, and many parents, attempt the puzzle with so much confidence. They, as we all did, would jump through loops, step over each other, climb over and under. Then within five minutes both kids and parents were clueless and looking for clues. Once we explained the puzzle and helped them solve it they all would be in amazement and awe. Sometimes the parents were more impressed than the kids. I found the time went by incredibly fast because I was having a lot of fun. What I started off as being unsure about and kind of doubting toward, ended up being one of the best ways I could have spent my Saturday morning. I look forward to volunteering again to teach a little and learn even more!

Defining "space" disambiguously.

Participating in one of the exhibits at the Science Alive Event this past Saturday was a great experience and my sincere thanks to Dr. Amanda Serenevy, Director of the River Bend Math Center, for allowing us the opportunity to share a few of the basic concepts of topology with the community. I particularly enjoyed interacting with the children and teenagers; watching their facial expressions change as their interest and understanding of these basic concepts increased. Prior to the exhibit, I myself was not familiar with the theory of topology, but after some quick research, learned that it is a mathematical concept involving geometry and defining space...who knew?!

By using topology puzzles provided by both Dr. Amanda Serenevy and Dr. Dean Serenevy (Mathematician), I was able to help children conceptualize some of the mathematical properties of natural space and the knot theory—and make it fun!! The first time I met Dr. Amanda Serenevy was when she visited our statistics class (on campus) and demonstrated one of her topology puzzles. I was immediately intrigued with her ‘three-dimensional’ approach and wanted to learn more about her program at the River Bend Math Center.

One of my future goals is to evaluate various elements of core curriculum (e.g. Math, Science) within school systems that reflect consistent disparities in students’ academic performance to identify factors contributing to these discrepancies and find solutions that will allow students excel to their highest potentials. I have confidence that by implementing innovative techniques—such as the ones demonstrated by Dr. Serenevy in core subjects will allow educators facilitate a broader spectrum of learning styles within the student population.

Fun at Science Alive!

Despite yesterday's cold conditions, many kids attended the Science Alive Festival at the St. Joseph Public Library. And we were there to help support the Riverbend Math Community Center. Hopefully, some of my students will blog about their experience at the festival (hint, hint), but in the meantime, here are some photos taken at the event. Enjoy! :0)

Tori and Amy watch a father attempt the "Typology Tango"

Kim's typology demonstration

Folks having fun while learning math

Having fun while learning math is contagious

(or as one kid said, "kinda freaky")

Amanda explains the "donut" to two young boys

Girls hard at work

Molly's typology demonstration

Nancy's typology demonstration

Amy's typology demonstration

Melissa's typology demonstration

A cute kid

Guest Speakers for Festival

Folks, I've got more good news to share with you: We have two guest speakers for the Conserve Plastic Bags Festival! (Please note: The tentative date for the festival is scheduled for April 14, 2007.)

Steve Antonneti, District Manager of Wal-Mart, will host a discussion session on Wal-Mart's efforts to recycle plastic bags. As part of his presentation, he will show us video footage on plastic-bag recycling in Bentonville, AK. He will also be able to answer any questions or concerns we may have about this recycling process. So this will be a *great* opportunity for us to get informed and ask our burning questions about plastic-bag recycling at Wal-Mart!

In addition, Vincent Cobb and his representatives at reuseablebags.com will participate at the Conserve Plastic Bags Festival! They will host a discussion session on the importance of conserving plastic bags. (If you haven't checked out their website, I highly encourage you to do so!) They will also have a lot of goodies in-store for us (e.g., t-shirts, stickers, cloth bags).

This should be educational and FUN!

Fabulous News: We Have Two Community Partners!

I'm very happy to report that we've established *two* community partners for the project. Cheryl Schade, Director of the Adult Services at the Logan Center, confirmed their support with the project. This means that folks at the Logan Center will participate in our contests. And we will host a workshop at the Logan Center to teach participants how to make crafts (i.e., draft dodgers, coasters) from re-used plastic bags.

In addition, we've formed a partnership with the Riverbend Community Math Center. Amanda Serenevy, President of Riverbend Community Math Center, will work closely with me to organize festival events. Amanda is committed to teaching children (and adults!) how mathematics relates to real-life events. I'm so impressed by her creative ideas; Amanda knows how make the study of mathematics FUN!

Folks, I'm thrilled about this latest development, and I hope you are, too!