The 3rd Annual Pi Day Math Festival was a great success! Thank you to our partner, AT&T Performing Arts Center. We are also excited to share this blog post from Scientific American, published on March 14, 2019 and written by talkSTEM founder, Koshi Dhingra. We are thrilled that so many came out to join us to “disrupt narrow notions of what math and science are and who does math and science”.
It was our biggest year yet, with 1000+ attendees- more than double our turn out from 2018, and a true celebration of STEM in the real world with connections to art, architecture, design, and the humanities. We hope that all the kids and families who came out will continue to be STEM explorers everywhere they go, that they ask questions about the spaces they travel in every day and they see how easy and how fun it is to estimate, design, and problem solve answers to their own, real world-based questions. We are thrilled to kick off two brand new, free programs. Schools and all other learning spaces can take the spirit of the Pi day Math Festival back to their own spaces with our new, free program, DIY Math Festival. They can also design their own walkSTEM tours in any space with our guidance and support in our 2nd new program, Create Your Own walkSTEM. We hope that we will be hearing from lots of educators and students about these opportunities.
This year’s event would not have been possible without our walkSTEM® Network Partners: Dallas Zoo, Southern Methodist University, Dallas Museum of Art, Girl Scouts of Northeast Texas, Dallas ISD, Dallas Arboretum, UT Southwestern Medical Center, City Lab High School, Dallas Innovation Alliance, and Dallas Love Field Airport. Thank you also to Mastermind Meditation, KERA, Microsoft Shop at NorthPark Center, Museum of Geometric and MADI Art, Bold Idea, Texas Legends, Dallas County Community College District, Dallas Opera, UT Arlington, Dallas Public Library, Perot Museum of Nature and Science, and Dallas Jazz Piano Society.
These organizations hosted tables with engaging, inquiry based hands-on activities for families to show how STEM includes EVERYONE- children, parents, professionals, educators, and students! Participants learned about Pi, optical illusions, symmetry in nature, building design and urban planning, how computers speak, solving rock puzzles, fractions in music, building towers, animals in the wild, math in sports, how sharks swim, flying objects, the math in downtown Dallas, and more!
Finally, a huge thank you to Sam Baker of KERA for moderating our inaugural “STEM in the Dallas Arts District” panel discussion. Thank you also to our panelists:
Nycole Ray, Dallas Black Theater (Encore! Director and Choreographer),
Kimberly Vagner, Perot Museum of Nature and Science (Director of the Gems and Minerals Center of Excellence),
Fran Baas, Dallas Museum of Art (Associate Conservator),
Jamie Allen, Dallas Symphony Orchestra (Education),
Lamar Livingston, Meyerson Symphony Center (Technical Director of Stage Operations),
Leigh Arnold, Nasher Sculpture Center (Assistant Curator),
Kristian Roberts, Dallas Opera (Education and Vocalist).
Their inspiring panel discussion illuminated how STEM walks hand in hand with the Arts in the Dallas Arts District!
Video and photo credit:
Courtesy of AT&T Performing Arts Center and talkSTEM.
Photos by Amber Knowles and Neil Foote.
Dr. Koshi Dhingra has dedicated her career to STEM education and is passionate about having every child live up to their potential. Seeing a lack of girls and other underrepresented youth in STEM programs, she founded talkSTEM in 2015 to address the imbalance. She has a doctorate in science education from Teachers College, Columbia University, has years of experience teaching in graduate and undergraduate programs, and has held leadership roles in universities. She advises and collaborates with a broad range of educational institutions globally. Dr. Dhingra began her career teaching science in middle and high school in New York. She lives in Dallas, Texas with her husband, three children, and two dogs.
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