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Subject: 
Look what you can build in twenty minutes!
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.edu, lugnet.build, lugnet.announce.moc
Followup-To: 
lugnet.edu
Date: 
Fri, 15 Jul 2005 08:17:38 GMT
Highlighted: 
!! (details)
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Here’s the result of a twenty-minute building frenzy:



What is it? A big blue castle? A very wobbly ocean? A sombrero? No! It’s a cosine. Really and truly.

Here’s how I built it in twenty minutes:

1) I didn’t build it. 2) I had students build it. 3) And I didn’t even have my students build it. 4) I had someone else’s students build it. So I guess it isn’t a MOC. It’s an OOC (our own creation).

Perhaps I should elaborate. Last semester, our Calculus III students learned double integration the old-fashioned way. They each built slices out of Lego bricks using instructions I whipped up; when they lined up their slices (with the help of letter tiles), they ended up with the surface defined by z=7+6cos(x^2+y^2). Isn’t that great?

After building a coarse approximation using 2x2s, my colleague Julian used it to show how double integration works. I love this photo!



Then, like all good calculus lessons, we tried a smaller delta x by adding 1x1s to the models. You see the result in the top photo. The class ended up with a beautiful model they had built themselves--and knew how to build again (should they ever need to teach double integration).

I knew I’d reached them when later that night one student hollered at me from across the grocery store. Yeah! Math celebrity!

The story doesn’t end there. I suppose we could have tried an even smaller delta x with Modulex, but no: I took the show on the road and made the model bigger!



Of course, I didn’t build any of this one, either. It was the work of other mathematicians, students, and even parents. But that’s a story for another day.

Hope everyone’s enjoying summer vacation!

-Teddy



Message has 4 Replies:
  Re: Look what you can build in twenty minutes!
 
(...) (snip) (...) Teddy, This is Cool, and a great story! Any thoughts about contributing an article about this to BrickJournal? Scott Lyttle (19 years ago, 15-Jul-05, to lugnet.edu, FTX)
  Re: Look what you can build in twenty minutes!
 
(...) Awesome Ted! (Hey, sorry I've been so aloof, even to you my closest AFOL neighbor. I haven't even thanked you yet for the bloody Christmas card!) :) But on topic, I must admit, I personally would use those in a Pirate display. For sure! ;) (...) (19 years ago, 17-Jul-05, to lugnet.edu, FTX)
  Re: Look what you can build in twenty minutes!
 
(...) Geez, if my instructor used LEGO to demonstrate integration, I'm sure I wouldn't have struggled as much in my university math courses... (19 years ago, 17-Jul-05, to lugnet.edu, FTX)
  Re: Look what you can build in twenty minutes!
 
(...) <snip> Great stuff Teddy! I love this math stuff, keep it coming! Cyndi (19 years ago, 18-Jul-05, to lugnet.edu, FTX)

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