Intro. To Fractals

This week in class we went over everyone's blogs from the previous week. We also listened to a webinar by Don Meyer. My personal opinion was that it was not very interesting, and I couldn't quite figure out exactly what point, or points, he was trying to get across.

Anyway, over the past week, I've begun to think about what topic I am going to cover for my final paper. So far, I think I'd like to discuss fractals. There are many ways to look at fractals, so I have to decide in which scenario I want to talk about them. For a quick look at a fractal zoom, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G_GBwuYuOOs. This shows what they are, but doesn't explain how they can make them, or discern them. This is one thing that I will be discussing in my paper.

The actual video starts with what looks like a drawing/picture, but then begins to zoom in on it, and you can see that each "original" branch is actually the same design, and has the same corresponding parts to the "original" picture.

More to come next week!

Week 1-September 10, 2012

In our first class this past Monday, class started by going over the syllabus and generally getting to know everyone and Dr. Milou. We discussed due dates for items listed on the syllabus as well as asking questions regarding the items listed.

We were also given two worksheets to fill out to determine if we all knew how to think mathematically. These worksheets led to class discussions. We also played the "In-Out" game, and "bet" on who would win. We did not know that this would turn into an activity, but once the game was over, we were given time to work together or independently to see if we could figure out how Dr. Milou knew who the winner would be given a number of players. I worked with a couple of girls at my table, and we were able to figure out a "pattern", then from that, we figured out a formula that could be used to determine the winner of the game no matter how many people played.

In addition to the above mentioned items, we discussed the AMTNJ convention that is coming up next month. There are opportunities for the students to volunteer, and to also attend seminars on the volunteer day.