"Flip it, Fold it, Figure it Out!" Helps Shape Up Math Skills at Discovery Place

New, interactive exhibition allows families to learn how math shapes their world. On exhibition through Wednesday, Dec. 31

September 09, 2008

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Families can “shape up” their math skills while discovering how relevant math is to everyday life at Flip it, Fold it, Figure it Out!, the newest exhibition at Discovery Place. The exhibition is free with general Museum admission and runs through Wednesday, Dec. 31.

Flip it, Fold it, Figure it Out! features engaging activity centers that encourage guests to “play with math.” Visitors can create quilt and tile patterns; experiment with drum beat rhythms; identify three-dimensional mystery shadow shapes; fold origami to see its application to science; explore volume concepts using containers of different shapes and sizes to hone skills in measurement, arithmetic and geometry; and play with reflective symmetry.

Developed specifically for children in elementary through middle school, the exhibition is comprised of a main activity surrounded by a collection of related objects and images –- from blueprints and telescope lenses, to sneakers and rugs. Gathered from around the world, the collections illustrate how architects and product designers, craftsmen and scientists use the same skills that visitors can use to understand how math affects our everyday lives.

Creators of Flip it, Fold it, Figure it Out! maintain that anyone can learn and enjoy math if the lesson is fun, interactive and relevant to daily life.

“Learning to read gives children a chance to read street signs, menus and books,” says Mary Russell-Roberson, Education Researcher with The Museum of Life and Science in Durham and one of the exhibit developers. “Learning to write lets them communicate with others and create their own stories. With math, children often don’t experience this immediate connection and reinforcement. So one of the best ways to help children with math is to make it matter.”

Flip it, Fold it, Figure it Out! exhibit areas include:

Creating Quilts
Design your own square of a quilt, using fabric squares and triangles to make patterns. Find the squares and triangle patterns that symmetrically flip, slide and rotate on a handmade quilt and feel the patterns on a tactile quilt of velvet, flannel and other luxury fabrics.

Tiling Shapes
Discover the relationship between angles and polygons by covering a surface with wooden tiles shaped like hexagons, squares, triangles and parallelograms. Hunt for hexagons in images from nature and art from around the world.

Reflecting on Patterns
Strategically placed tiles and birthday candles create patterns reflected in a mirror; turning the mirror changes the number of viewable reflections. The challenge: depict the number of birthday candles in the mirror to show your age. Understanding how a circle can be divided is important for learning fractions—and slicing pizza!

Shapes in the Shadows
Have a friend place a mystery object in the box and see if you can identify it just by looking at its shadow. Depending on the perspective, the shadow of a comb can looks like a screwdriver.

Puzzling Shapes
When can a circle fit through a triangle-shaped hole if they are both the same size? Find the one piece of a puzzle that will pass through cut-out holes shaped like a circle, square and triangle.

Fold it! Origami
See how origami solves engineering problems and enabled a huge telescope to be launched into space. Marvel at how many complicated shapes can be created from a single sheet of uncut paper at the origami zoo. Then create simple origami models to investigate the results of transforming and subdividing shapes and bring it home!

Size It Up
A scatter plot graph reveals the relationship of shoe size and height as you measure your height and add the data point to the exhibit wall. Compare your data point to those of other visitors. Find out the relationship between shoe size and height.

Measure Up
Hone grocery shopping skills by estimating which juice and shampoo containers hold the most. Play with rice and hollow Platonic shapes (cubes, spheres, cones and cylinders) to discover which shapes have the greatest volume.

Flip it, Fold it, Figure it Out! is on exhibition at Discovery Place through Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2008 and is free with Museum admission.

Flip it, Fold it, Figure it Out! was produced by the Museum of Life and Science in conjunction with the Grassroots Science Museum Collaborative. The exhibition was made possible with funds from the National Science Foundation.

For more information on pricing or programming, call 704-372-6261, x300 or visit discoveryplace.org.

About Discovery Place
Discovery Place is located in uptown Charlotte at 301 N. Tryon Street. Convenient parking is available in the science center’s parking garage — the Carol Grotnes Belk Complex — at the corner of Sixth and Church streets. For more information about Discovery Place, guests should call 704 372-6261 or visit discoveryplace.org.

One of the top hands-on science museums in the nation and second-most visited site among museums and historical attractions in North Carolina, Discovery Place provides ever-changing, entertaining facilities that foster experiences in areas that range from life science to marine biology. More than a half-million people from all over the United States visit Discovery Place, its IMAX® Dome Theatre and Charlotte Nature Museum each year. Discovery Place is supported, in part, with a Basic Operating Grant from the Arts & Science Council.

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