Mathematics
made easy as Pi: Statewide Pi Day celebration coming 3.14
March 6, 2003
For education and calendar editors, Images available on request
Contact:
Jon Pishney (919) 733-7450,
ext. 305
RALEIGH – On 3.14 (Friday, March 14), join museum visitors from across the state for a simultaneous celebration of math and numbers. Called Pi Day, this annual special event takes place at 13 science museums around the state, including the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in downtown Raleigh. From 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., Museum visitors can participate in free, inquiry-based activities and explore displays on the fun and accessibility of mathematics.
"Our goal is to make math concrete," said Barbara Beaman, Museum educator and Pi Day coordinator. "We believe kids can learn more when you take math off the blackboard, so Pi Day presentations are designed to give them hands-on access to math concepts in a fun and understandable way."
New this year, 6th- and 7th-graders from Raleigh's Moore Square Museums Magnet Middle School will assist Museum educators and staff by making presentations at 12 hands-on tabletop exhibits located throughout the Museum's four floors. These exhibits include:
- How Many is a Million? – Try to find a single black bead in a jar packed with a million yellow beads, or turn a hand crank on a specially geared machine until the counter reaches a million.
- Which Sock Will You Pick? – Ever wonder why it's so hard to pick a matching set of socks out of a packed dryer? At this exhibit you can learn about probability while trying to make a match.
- Which Tool is Best? – What's the best way to measure a dinosaur? The size of its teeth. The span of its jaw. The overall length from head to toe. Compare different measuring tools to see what works best for the task at hand.
"Events like Pi Day enable students to interact with math on a personal level," said Moore Square math teacher and Pi Day participant George Raley. "It gives them the opportunity to teach math concepts to others, which is especially powerful in adding to their own understanding. They not only have to understand the concepts, but anticipate possible questions from their audience and formulate answers."
Visitors also can gain a broader perspective on the state in which they live by participating in a multi-museum graphing activity. Pi Day visitors at any of the 13 museums are asked two questions:
- Where do you live? (Blue Ridge, Piedmont or Coastal region? Out-of-state?)
- Were you born in North Carolina? (yes or no)
The resulting data are translated into bar or pie graphs and posted online to determine which physiographic region of North Carolina has the most residents who were born in North Carolina. The results will be immediately viewable at the exhibit's live Web station. (For a peek at last year's results, visit www.ncmls.org/piday/.)
In addition, visitors can count the number of human vertebrae using "skeleton math," or make their own sundial wristwatch using little more than poster board, string and a compass.
Pi Day is a project of the N.C. Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative, a statewide non-profit organization comprised of 21 science centers and museums. The Science Museums Collaborative works to improve the public's understanding of science and technology, and to enhance science education in schools and communities throughout the state. In addition to the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, other member institutions—including the Museum of Life and Science, Durham; Discovery Place, Charlotte; SciWorks, Winston-Salem; and the Natural Science Center of Greensboro—will host math activities in celebration of Pi Day during the week of March 10-14.
Pi Day is supported in part by the National Science Foundation. For more information on the North Carolina Grassroots Science Museums Collaborative, please see their Web site, www.grassroots-science.org. To learn more about the N.C. Museum of Natural Sciences, please visit the Museum's Web site at www.naturalsciences.org.
The North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences, in downtown Raleigh, documents and interprets the natural history of the state of North Carolina through exhibits, research, collections, publications, and educational programming. Hours: Mon.-Sat., 9 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sun., noon to 5 p.m. Admission is free. Visit the Museum on the web at www.naturalsciences.org. The Museum is an agency of the N.C. Department of Environment and Natural Resources, William G. Ross Jr., Secretary.
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