1st – 2nd – MathCircles.org

Fold & Cut

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What shapes can result from the following fold-and-cut process?
Take a piece of paper.
Fold it flat.
Make one complete straight cut.
Unfold the pieces.
Are all shapes possible?

Cup Stacking

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Topic(s):

Mathematical Games, Problem Solving / General

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Facilitator Guides, Handouts, Photos & Videos, References

Begin with a row of cups and end with all of the cups in a single stack. Rules: 1. Count the number of cups in a stack. That stack must jump that number of spaces. For example, 1 cup can only move 1 space; 2 cups have to move 2...

Locked Out: A Breakout Box Session for Your Circle

By:

Donna Farrior, Kimberly Adams

Topic(s):

Mathematical Games, Problem Solving / General

Supporting Resources:

Facilitator Guides, Featured in MCircular, References

Escape Rooms and “Bomb Disposal” activities are growing in popularity as a form of team building and entertainment. This session blends the two ideas to create a cooperative math activity where the challenge is to solve math problems whose solutions generate combinations to open a locked box. The math problems...

The Dollar Game

By:

Holly Krieger, Javier Haro

Topic(s):

Mathematical Games, Problem Solving / General

Supporting Resources:

Facilitator Guides, Photos & Videos, References, Virtual Tools

A group of people, some that just met, have a dilemma. Some people owe money and some have money. Problem is that only people that know each other, connected by nodes, can give or lend a dollar. But they must give each person they know a dollar, even if that...

Wolves and Sheep

By:

Joshua Zucker, Spencer Bowen

Topic(s):

Combinatorics, Geometry, Problem Solving / General

Supporting Resources:

Facilitator Guides, Handouts, Photos & Videos, References, Virtual Tools

The rules are simple: you want to place the sheep on the board so that the wolves can’t eat them. A wolf can eat a sheep if it has a direct path to it – or is in same row, column, or diagonal as that sheep. Can you place all...

Queen’s Move

By:

David Klein, Spencer Bowen

Topic(s):

Combinatorics, Geometry, Mathematical Games, Number Theory, Problem Solving / General

Supporting Resources:

Facilitator Guides, Handouts, Photos & Videos, References

Students will explore a game between two players moving a chess Queen from place to place on a square grid. The Queen may move any number of spaces to the left, any number of spaces downward, and any number of spaces on the downward-left pointing diagonal. Each player takes turns...

Bubbling Cauldrons

By:

David Klein, Gord Hamilton, Spencer Bowen

Topic(s):

Algebra / Arithmetic, Mathematical Modeling, Problem Solving / General

Supporting Resources:

Facilitator Guides, Handouts, Photos & Videos, References, Virtual Tools

Place our numbers into the cauldrons in ascending order – you can choose which cauldron each one goes in. However, if two numbers in one cauldron add up to a third number in that same cauldron, they bubble up and cause an explosion! This means that all the numbers, leave...

Monty Hall Problem

By:

David Klein, Spencer Bowen

Topic(s):

Mathematical Games, Probability and Statistics

Supporting Resources:

Facilitator Guides, Handouts

A prize is hidden behind one of three doors. You choose the door where you think the prize is hidden. But before the door is opened, one of the other 2 remaining doors is opened to reveal no prize. You can choose to keep the door you chose earlier or...

Humans, Zombies, & Other Problems Crossing the River

By:

David Klein, Javier Haro, Spencer Bowen

Topic(s):

Mathematical Modeling, Problem Solving / General

Supporting Resources:

Facilitator Guides, Photos & Videos, Virtual Tools

A town faces an epidemic of zombies! Luckily, the virus has just started to spread and the infected are able to stave off their hunger for human brains… for now. In fact, they’re willing to work alongside the remaining humans to help them get across a river to safety. Can...

Puppies & Kittens

By:

Spencer Bowen

Topic(s):

Mathematical Games, Problem Solving / General

Supporting Resources:

Facilitator Guides, Photos & Videos, References

A local animal shelter has a puppies and kittens available for adoption that you just happen to be itching to own! In this week’s “paw-some” activity, two players begin with a certain number of animals to choose from and take turns adopting animals. The player to adopt the last animal...

Audience: 1st - 2nd