SK Day 2018

Welcome Activity + Breakfast

The day started with a short welcome speech from the SK Day coordinators, Angela Kraft, Hannah Biegel, and Rachel Oliver. After the welcome, the girls were guided on a bagel cutting adventure! During this activity the girls were introduced to a branch of math called topology and learned about a mathematical object called a torus. All the students were given bagels for breakfast, but before they ate them, they were taught how to cut their bagel in half so that the two halves were linked.

After breakfast, the girls were split into groups to attend 5 different mathematical workshops.

Murder Mystery Workshop

During the murder mystery workshop, the girls were asked to use math and logic to deduce which suspect committed a murder. They had to use algebra to determine the time of death of the murder victim and verify the alibis of the suspects. 

Representing Numbers Workshop

In the representing numbers the girls used various objects to represent numbers. They had come up with solutions to the problem given and reason through how to generalize the solution. 

Math and Art Workshop

Mathematics often appears in artwork. In the math and art workshop, the girls used basic mathematical functions to design their own graph paper. After learning about different functions, they graphed the functions using desmos and printed off their designs to color.

Women In Math Workshop

During the women in math workshop, the students learned about some of the pioneering women in mathematics. They learned about the important contributions each woman made to the field of mathematics and the difficulties they faced. The experiences of these historical women were also related to each students' personal experiences. 

Data Science Workshop

Data science is a fast growing field. During the data science workshop, girls were given a short peek into the world of data science. The students were all given a basic machine learning problem and they learned how to use machine learning techniques to solve the problem. 

Keynote Address + Lunch

We ended the day with an lunch and an exciting keynote address given by Tracy Stepien, a postdoctoral research associate in the mathematics department. During her talk she described her path into mathematics and her research in mathematical biology. She also taught the audience about Fibonacci sequences and recursive relations.