GeoBurst FREE Interactive Shows
GeoBurst has done hands on mathematical activities with hundreds of participants, by visiting schools and performing at events.
We are able to visit any school in the greater Victoria area, and most First Nations schools across British Columbia, through our partner, Math Catcher. Email us for more details, and take a look at our photo gallery.
Example show
We offer interactive shows for grades 2-12. Here is an
outline of a 1.5 hour program for grades 4-9:
- We discuss with the kids what math means and where to find it. Math is the "study of patterns", so we abstract patterns from number sequences, such as the one starting with 1,2,4,7,11.
- We focus the discussion on 3D geometry and patterns in objects found in the room.
- The kids build their own mathematical object called a tensegrity. The shape of it has triangles, symmetry, parallel lines and golden rectangles.
- Whenever possible, we demonstrate a large version of the tensegrity (about 7ft tall) as well.
It takes about 15 minutes to set up the show, and an extra 20 minutes for the giant tensegrity. For grade 4 we may need up to a 1:5 adult to child ratio. For older kids we can do with as little as 1:10, including me.
GeoBurst Events
Reference letters from partners can be provided upon request.
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| December 27-28, 2012 |
GeoBurst at Science World. We built tensegrities with 400-500
enthusiastic young participants and it was a blast. Here is what Paul Botha, Science World's program specialist, had to say:
"GeoBurst is fun, interactive, and so amazingly cool, how could anyone think math is boring after building a Tensgrity?" |
| November 28, 2012 | GeoBurst interactive show at the Math Stretch program in Delta,
BC, by Matt DeVos. Here is their feedback:
Hi Alejandro, It went really, really well. Donna is going to send you a copy of some of the student's feedback, but they loved making the Tensegrities, Matt was a great speaker and he brought a lot of cool geometry toys that got us all very excited. I even stopped at the dollar store on the way home, got craft sticks, hair elastics and pencils. I made another 8 Tensegrities to give to colleagues at my school with your instruction sheet, and I got the pencils to make a Hexasitck. Thank you again for connecting us with Matt, Sarah Dakin Learning Assistance Teacher Richardson Elementary School |
| November 2012 | GeoBurst's award winning 16 foot tall Tensegrity Ball, and its
educational initiatives were featured
in Tensegrity World, by Biagio Di Carlo, 2nd Ed, pp
213-214.
|
| November 24, 2012 | Joint presentation with Math Catcher at First Nation's Steering Committee conference. |
| November 18-23, 2012 | Joint participation and presentation with Math Catcher at First Nations Math Education workshop at Banff International Research Station. |
| October, 2012 | GeoBurst won the "Hands-on Education Award" from Instructables.com for our step by step instructions on how to build our giant, 16-foot tall Tensegrity Ball. Thanks to everyone who helped out!
|
| October 25-26, 2012 | Joint visit with Math Catcher to a Sliammon Nation school, Powell River, BC. |
| October 23, 2012 | 3rd Annual Aboriginal Students in Math and Science Workshop at IRMACS, Simon Fraser University. |
| October 16, 2012 | Joint visit with Math Catcher to Bayview Elementary School in Nanaimo. |
| July-August, 2012 | GeoBurst is doing the math activity at
12 Science Venture summer
camps, as well as providing their satellite camp and
other Actua camps with tensegrities in
July and August, 2012.
|
| July 28-29, 2012 | Vancouver Island Mini MakerFaire and Giant Tensegrity Ball |
| July 21, 2012 | Testing Giant Tensegrity Ball.
|
| July 4-5, 2012 | GeoBurst did two activities at the 2012 Canadian Mathematical Math Society Camp at the University of Victoria, which is a week long day camp for nominated high school students in grades 9-12. |
| June 23-24, 2012 | Vancouver Mini MakerFaire. GeoBurst won the Volunteer's choice award, and our booth was swamped with people for the whole weekend. Many thanks to all those involved in this event. |
| June 14, 2012 | Joint visit with Math Catcher to The Sk'elep school of excellence |
| May 24, 2012 | Joint visit with Math Catcher to N'Kwala school, Douglas Lake, BC.
Testimonial:
On May 24th, 2012 our school was visited by Dr. Jungic and two colleagues from S.F.U. to provide hands on fun math workshops with the students revolving around videos and booklets that Dr. J had co-authored focusing on engaging First Nations students in mathematics. I can honestly say that this was the most fun my students had in math this year! They were engaged the entire time. While they were somewhat apprehensive when answering Dr. J's questions, when they were given hands-on work to be done they jumped in with both feet. Even some of my students that are very difficult to motivate participated wholly. I was so pleased. They were thrilled to build "tensegrity" models learning about tension and compression. Most of the kids have their models proudly displayed on this desks now. They have even been teaching the younger students how to make the models. This team truly made math fun for my students. I would recommend them to any other school that is lucky enough to have a visit from them. Thank you so much for coming to visit us and sharing your knowledge. Respectfully yours, Mrs. Christine Hammonds, Principal |
| May 8, 2012 | Joint visit with Math Catcher to Alderson Elementary School, Coquitlam, BC. |
| May 3, 2012 | Joint visit with Math Catcher to SenPokChin School, Oliver, BC. |
| May 2, 2012 | Joint visit with Math Catcher to Snc’c’amala?tn School, Okanagan
Indian Band Immersion School, Vernon, BC. Feedback:
Dear Veselin Jupic, Thank you for thinking of our school, when you were doing your math presentation. The kids from our school are still talking about your visit. The grade 4-7 teacher Ms. Smith told me that the students have more enthusiasm when they are doing Math. You opened their minds, when you showed that Math is all around us. Some students are thinking about what University they are going to go. Hopefully who will be thinking of our school when you have another grant. Sincerely, Mario Richard * There will be a package arriving in the mail for you within a week or so. We have sent a copy of each child's thank you note for coming to our school. I have also included the original letter from Mario in the envelope. Thank you again for coming to our school and please keep us in mind for any future programs you may run. Michelle Smith |
| April 26-27, 2012 | Joint visit with Math Catcher to Bella Bella Community School, Bella Bella, BC. This school visit changed our lives more than any of them. Read about that story here. |
| February 3, 2012 | Joint presentation with Math Catcher to the First Nations School Board Association, West Vancouver, BC. |
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