On December 15th (Sunday), the Department of Mathematics, Graduate School of Science, will host the event organized by the KDDI Foundation.DEIThe Promotion Headquarters co-sponsored an interactive science experiment workshop for junior high school students titled "Seeing the Fourth Dimension Through Mathematics: Counting the Shapes of Polyhedra." [For more details on the event, please see below.]CLICK HERE]
When we sent out invitations to junior high schools in Sapporo, we received more applications than we had capacity for, so 14 students, along with their parents and teachers, were selected by lottery to participate.
First, Professor Keiji Matsumoto of the Department of Mathematics, Graduate School of Science, explained the structure of several polyhedra. Then, the students were given an assignment to assemble polyhedra from nets provided, working together with their parents and teachers. After understanding the three-dimensional structure of the lines and faces that make up the polyhedra, based on the polyhedra they actually created, they considered how to view things in four dimensions using mathematics.
While the adults struggled to visualize the four-dimensional world, the middle school students, with support from student teaching assistants, diligently worked on the task of counting the infinitely many polyhedra that can be created.
In the post-event survey, comments such as "I found the connection between the expansion from two dimensions to three dimensions to four dimensions to be very beautiful" (junior high school student) and "Participating in events like this is a great stimulus for children!" (parent) were received, indicating that participants had a meaningful time.
This was the second time we held this event, and we received a large number of applications, resulting in a very high competition rate.
The participant survey results were very positive, so we hope to continue implementing this project in the future.
Even if you weren't selected in this lottery, please apply again next time the event is held.
Professor Keiji Matsumoto, Department of Mathematics, Faculty of Science
Scene from the classroom
