Math & Sci Activities

Summer 2003
July 2, 2003
Handouts
1. Calendar Problems: February 2003 (Mathematics Teacher, February 2003)
2. BRAINTEASERS – Just for the fun of it! (Quantum, May/June 1994)

References:
1. Search for the biggest numeric palindrome
http://www.floot.demon.co.uk/palindromes.html

2. Public Key Cryptography

http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/topics/art003.pdf

3. A Miscellany of Extracts from a Dictionary of Mathematics

http://www.ex.ac.uk/cimt/topics/art002.pdf

Search software:
http://www.copernic.com/en/index.html
go to “Download Copernic Basic Agent FREE”

July 4, 2003
Handouts
3. Calendar Problems: February 2003 (Mathematics Teacher, Math 2003)
4. BRAINTEASERS – Just for the fun of it! (Quantum, November/December 1993)

References:
1. Popular Science
http://www.popsci.com/popsci/home/0,12510,,00.html
2. Zephyrus – an interactive science education webpage
http://www.zephyrus.co.uk/index.html
3. Mathpuzzle.com
http://mathpuzzle.com/
4. Project guidelines
http://www.scifair.org/index.shtml

Task 1:
1. Go to http://mathpuzzle.com/ and choose one of the puzzles.
2. Try your best to do it.
3. Bring your solution or your works next time and tell your friends how you work it
out or how you can’t get the solution.
4. We shall discuss it in the next meeting (Wednesday, Jul 9).

Task 2:
1. Visit http://www.popsci.com/popsci/home/0,12510,,00.html and choose one article
 that you find interesting and want to share with your classmates.
2. Read the article and extract the key points of the content.
3. Present the key points in PowerPoint presentation or …. to your friends on next
Friday. (Diagrams/images/charts/drawings are helpful in explaining ideas)

July 9, 2003
Handouts
5. Calendar Problems: January 2003 (Mathematics Teacher, Jan 2003)

References:
1. http://www.nrich.maths.org.uk/mathsf/journalf/jul03/problems.html

Next Meeting
Date: July 11, 2003 (Friday)
Time: 9:30 am – 11:00 am
Place: Room 223

July 11, 2003

Handouts
6. 檸檬發電四驅車 (生活的化學)

References:
Battery and Fruit battery
2. 果然係~~電池 http://hk.geocities.com/csss4j/00.htm
3. Fruit battery (images) http://www.pwest.bravepages.com/frbat.htm
4. Lee Sir’s Chemistry page http://lpl.hkcampus.net/~lpl-chem/

Some mathematics websites

5. http://www.nrich.maths.org.uk/topic_tree/index.html
6. http://mathworld.wolfram.com/

July 15, 2003

Handouts
7. Calendar Problems: December 2002 (Mathematics Teacher, Dec 2002)

References:
Proof of Pythagoras Theorem
1. You can drag the figures to prove the Pythagoras Theorem
http://www.phy.ntnu.edu.tw/java/OTHERS/pythagoras2/
2. Go to Pythagoras Theorem in
http://www.ktgss.edu.hk/Teacher/MissLauYuenSheung/
3. Study the following web page and find out how the Pythagoras Theorem was proved
by areas of triangles.
http://sunsite.ubc.ca/LivingMathematics/V001N01/UBCExamples/Pythagoras/pytha
goras.html
4. http://www.cinderella.de/en/demo/gallery/pythagoras.html
About Pythagoras
Bibliography
http://ancienthistory.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?site=http://www%2Dgroups.dcs.s
t%2Dand.ac.uk:80/%7Ehistory/Mathematicians/Pythagoras.html

July 18, 2003

Handouts
8. Calendar Problems: January 2001 (Mathematics Teacher, Jan 2001)

References:
1. There are other resources of fruit battery
a) Lemon Battery
http://pbskids.org/zoom/sci/lemonbatteryii.html
b) Fruit Battery
http://www.slb.com/seed/en/lab/fruit/

2. How to write a lab report

http://www.lni.net/bchelp/frp/lab_report.htm

3. You may find answers to some of your question in science:

How stuff work? http://science.howstuffworks.com/

4. A very interesting website about science of cooking

http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/

July 21, 2003

Task
You are going to work with your group (3 to 4 students) to do a science experimental
project. The project can be something that you observe in your daily life and you are
interested to find out why it happens, or you want to know how things work.
(Date of completion will be discussed on this Friday, July 25)

Discussion
Discuss with your group members:
 To choose a project that your group is interested and is workable in the lab. or at
home;
 To elect a group leader;
 To divide the workload among members;
 To plan the experiment;
 To set up the time line of the project.

One Page Proposal

Once your group has decided on the project, write a one-page proposal that includes:
 The title of the project
 A very brief description of your thoughts about the project and of the work that
 your intend to carry out
 A full list of apparatus and materials needed (use what we have in the lab. or you can
get easily)
 Results that you expected
 A time line of the project
(Best to be handed before Aug 1, Friday through email to lsc03math@yahoo.com.hk)

Project Diary
Keep a diary of your project. You should not trust yourself to remember facts and details.
Record everything in your diary and use it as an information store for writing your report.
You can even write personal comments about how your project is going and what your
progress is like.

References:
5. You can almost find all information and resource about science projects in
http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/scifairstudio/

6. You must read:

Scientific Method
1、 A detail description
http://school.discovery.com/sciencefaircentral/scifairstudio/handbook/scientific
method.html
2、 An introductory level guide to experimental science projects
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/SciProjIntro.html

7. Other useful websites

1、 Scifair.org: The ultimate science fair resource
http://www.scifair.org/index.shtml
2、 Cyber-Fair http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/

8. Samples
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/ExmSciProj.html
http://www.isd77.k12.mn.us/resources/cf/batteries.html

9. Some ideas
http://www.scifair.org/ideas/index.shtml
http://www.energyquest.ca.gov/projects/index.html#chemical

July 25, 2003

References:
1. Have you heard of nanometer? Here is a webpage about the metric prefix:
http://chemistry.berkeley.edu/links/weights/metric.html
2. The molecule of water
http://www.johnkyrk.com/H2O.html

Aug 1, 2003
Readings
News about the Pygmy Sperm Whale in Chinese newspaper
http://search.hk.yahoo.com/search/nws?p=%A9%D9%AD%BB%C4H&s=-ut

References:
1. 小抹香鯨 Pygmy Sperm Whale
http://stmail.tajen.edu.tw/~e9008218/contents12.htm
http://debut.cis.nctu.edu.tw/~yklee/NetZoo/Whale/pygmy1.htm
http://www.sci.tamucc.edu/tmmsn/29Species/pygmyspermwhale.html

Aug 5, 2003
Activity:
1. We had visited the following website and worked out the sum of infinite series
http://math.rice.edu/~lanius/Lessons/Series/infinite.htm
a) Read and explore each page;
b) Find out the meanings of infinity and infinite series;
c) Read more about infinite series in the webpage and learn about Zeno’s Paradox:
http://mathforum.org/isaac/problems/zeno1.html
d) You can get an explanation in
http://www.shu.edu/projects/reals/numser/answers/zeno.html

Task:
1. Read the news about the Pygmy Sperm Whale and write a report about the fate of
the beached whale. (refer to the websites in Aug 1 attachment)

References:
1. Translation: you can use this tool to translate the language of a website from
English to Chinese….
http://babelfish.altavista.com/

2. In this website, you can travel through several virtual exhibits to learn about
technologies based on electricity and magnetism. Each exhibit includes
explanations of how things work, historical and biographical information, and
links to other resources. Exhibits cover “Women and Technology”, “Thomas A.
Edison”, and “microwaves”, but you'll want to start with “Socket to Me, a brief
history of electricity”.
http://www.ieee-virtual-museum.org/index.php

Aug 8, 2003
Activity:
1. Movie and quiz on Scientific Method in www.brainPOP.com
2. Online exercise of uses and operation guide of apparatus
http://resources.ed.gov.hk/chemistry/chusan/english/sy.htm#
3. Laboratory safety by City University
http://www.cityu.edu.hk/secondary_school_safety/

Task
We are going to build a bridge across a gap of about 30 cm. The following about building
of a bridge will be discussed:
a) materials,
b) dimensions, and
c) the marking scheme.
Reference:
1. How a bridge work
http://www.howstuffworks.com/bridge.htm/printable
2. Building BIG – Bridges
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/buildingbig/bridge/index.html

News:
1. The first cloning horse created in Italy
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25717-2003Aug6.html

References:
1 Online exercises on each chapter of I.S. and much more ….
http://www.naturalking.net/
2 Laboratory policy and techniques by Seattle Central Community College
http://www.seattlecentral.org/faculty/ptran/policy.html
3 http://kids.discovery.com/
4 Websites on Forensic Science
http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Science/temp-exh/whodunit/forensic.htm
5 The Sciencetunnel
http://www.lcsd.gov.hk/CE/Museum/Science/temp-
exh/scitunnel/eindex.htm
„Research perspectives 2000+“ from the Max-Planck-Society.
http://www.sciencetunnel.com/#
http://2000plus.mpg.de/index_eng.html

Aug 12, 2003

Tasks to be done on Aug 14, 2003:

Mathematics Trail:
We are going to work out some problems on the Mathematics Trail 2002 and build up a
new question set of Mathematics Trail 2003 (to be used later).
References:
3. Mathematics trail 2000 in HK http://hlm.hkcampus.net/~hlm-ctw/mathtrail/top.htm
(question set is attached with this email)
4. Mathematics trail made by students
http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/dennington.suffolk/maths_trail/index.htm
5. TPJC mathematics trail 1998 http://www.moe.edu.sg/maths/oct98/trail.htm
6. Details about mathematics trail
http://illuminations.nctm.org/imath/across/connections/vmt/vmtIntro.html

Tasks to be done on Aug 24, 2003:

Building a bridge:
We are going to build a bridge (8 cm to 12 cm wide) across a gap of 30 cm. The finished
bridge must be able to support a toy car running across it.
A. Time allowed: 180 minutes
B. Materials: students are only allowed to use no materials other than those listed
below
A4 paper 20 pieces
Drinking straws 20 pieces
Paper clips 20 pieces
Rubber bands 10 pieces
Glue 1
Staple 1 x 25
Adhesive tape 1 roll
C. Scores: to be announced later
D. Reference: refer to the attachment Aug 8, 2003