Assignments

Final blog post revisions – points vary – due Thursday 12/14 at 10:00am
All final revisions on blog posts, including your Showcase blog post, are due by 10:00am sharp on 12/14. After that time you will not have access to WordPress and I will start grading your final revisions.

Anonymous surveys – 6 points – due by Thursday 12/14
Later this week I’ll create some class surveys so I can learn from your experiences in this course. Although they will be anonymous I will have a way for you to record your name in a separate file for up to 6 bonus points. I WILL SEND YOU EMAIL when the surveys are ready, so please watch your email.

Showcase blog post – 6 points – due by Thursday 12/14
Write a short blog post about the showcase event, with an actual photo from the event as your Featured Image, and photos and/or video of your part of the showcase. For bonus points, also include photos and/or video of another group’s part of the showcase! Consider this post a recap of your presentation and the overall event, for people that might not have had a chance to come to the showcase. This is a group assignment for each presentation group.

FINAL PRESENTATIONS – 10 pts – On Thursday 12/7 in Roop Hall
Class on Thursday 12/7 will be in Roop 103, across the quad from our usual building. Please arrive on time at 9:30, or earlier, if possible. It is your responsibility to bring all models, signs, and props with you. This assignment cannot be made up, so be there!

Final prints and presentation props – 3 pts – Due Tuesday 12/5 at start of class Complete and bring in any signs, mathematical displays, prints, or other props you will need for Thursday’s presentation. I will walk around to each group and do a check for 3 points, and also be a pratice “audience” for your group. (You’ll also get a second chance to bring in any objects you forgot to bring in last time.)

Bring in 3D prints – 3 pts – Due Thursday 11/30 at start of class Please bring in all 3D printed models from the First Fractal, Tinkercad Fractal, and Carpet Fractal projects so that the groups presenting those models can start figuring out what they have to work with. There will be a for-points quiz to record that you have brought your models. Your models will be returned to you after the Showcase.

Finish Fractal Carpet post – 4 pts – Due Thursday 11/30 before class Complete your individual Fractal Carpet post. A total of up to 16 points will be awarded for this project according to the Rubric that was handed out in class.

Fractal Carpet dimension – 3 pts – Due Tuesday 11/28 before class Add a section to your blog post about dimension, calculating the dimension of your Fractal Carpet and explaining that calculation clearly. Remember that pictures and illustrations can help a lot with your explanation. Just writing down the calculation with no words is not an explanation; imagine you are seeing this in a book for a first time and want there to be enough on the page to make you understand what is going on.

Fractal Carpet math – 6 pts – Next draft due Thursday 11/16 before classTwo things, each worth 3 points: First, revise the writeup of your Level 1, 2, and 3 surface area calculations to make sure that you have clearly explained your work. Pictures and handwritten calculations can help a lot here. Second, add a section to calculate the surface area of the “infinite” level of your Fractal Carpet, using the formula for calculating the sum of an infinite geometric series. Again, be sure that you explain your calculations in the writeup for this section.

Fractal Carpet blog post – 3 pts – Due Tuesday 11/14 before classPrint the remaining levels of your Fractal Carpet so that you have levels 1, 2, and 3 in the 100mm size, and then create an individual blog post about your Fractal Carpet design. Remember this is not a group project; each of you should have your own design, prints, and post. Here are the requirements for the post so far:

Title should be a name for your carpet fractal, like “Roller Skates Carpet Fractal”

Cover image should be a photo of your level 3 print

Category for your post should be “Fractal Carpet”

Inside pictures of all three levels of your print, possibly some using the grid lines to show how your pattern works

Describe the definition of your fractal (which coordinates were removed)

Record your surface area calculations for each level, including showing work/subtractions; illustrate with a diagram or picture if it makes your work clearer. This will be something that I look at closely, so remember to explain *why* your calculations are what they are

Don’t worry about the infinite level or geometric series yet, we’ll do that next week

Print a level of your Fractal Carpet – 3 pts – Due Thursday 11/9 before classCreate your own personal Fractal Carpet using the OpenSCAD code and 3D print at least one level (1, 2, or 3) before Thursday’s class. You’ll be using these prints in the near future to do some calculations that you will later document with a blog post. For now just create your fractal and do the prints. I’ll ask to see each person’s individual prints on Thursday for a 3 point quiz.

Make something in OpenSCAD – Due Tuesday 11/7 before class Download the free program OpenSCAD and open it. Then watch the video Polybowls – A simple OpenSCAD walkthrough and play along in your own copy of OpenSCAD. Before class on Tuesday, make one interesting thing in OpenSCAD that isn’t anything like the polybowl examples in the video. Use the internet as a resource; for example, to learn how to make a cube in OpenSCAD, google “OpenSCAD cube” and see what you find.

Thingiverse and Tinkercad/design links – 3 pts – Due Thursday 11/2 before class Post your project designs on Thingiverse. Include a photo as your first/cover image, description of your project with link back to your blog post, and tag #JMU3SPACE. If your design was made in Tinkercad then make the Tinkercad file public and include a link to it in the Thingiverse description. If your design was made in other software then also upload your design file to Thingiverse. Add a section at the end of your blog post that includes these Thingiverse and Tinkercad links.

Infinite Geometric Series Videos – Quiz on this on Tuesday 10/31 We’ll be revisiting geometric series after we finish presentations, so to prepare for that please watch the Khan Academy video Convergent Geometric Series. This is a review of the convergent infinite geometric series formula from the 10/26 Timeline post. There is a little bit of “sigma notation” in the video that you can mostly ignore for now. After watching the video, do the first two calculations in the Practice Module. We’ll have a similar quiz at the start of class on Tuesday.

Write, Math, Print for Open Project – ongoing – Final Stages by Thursday 10/19All group members should have tasks to perform between today and next class, to move the project forward. You should aim to have your blog post almost all the way completed, including images, and final prints or last pieces ready for sending to the printers, and a good math story/presentation, by Tuesday 10/24. Actual presentations will begin on Thursday 10/26. I haven’t assigned points to each daily development step, but your final Open Project will be worth a total of 15-20 points.

First Steps on Open Project – 3 pts – Due Tuesday 10/10 before class Document your progress between this class and next in a section called “First Steps”.

Start your Open Project – 3 pts – Due Thursday 10/5 before class Create a new blog post to kick off your new project groups, including a Featured Image, a category tag of “Open Project”, a section assigning Designer, Math Consultant, and Writer (you must have a different role than last time), and a short section titled “Project Idea” where you talk about your project idea and include at least one picture/illustration.

Rate your Fractal group members – Due Thursday 10/5 before class Outside of class, please complete the confidential Tinkercad Project Group Rating form.

Fourth Dimension reading – Due Tuesday 10/3 before class You have one week to read through our second required text, Things to Make and Do in the Fourth Dimension, and find an interesting topic that you think you could illustrate with 3D printing. Don’t read the book in order! Instead, skip around and thumb through the book until something catches your eye. Each person individually should be ready to make a project pitch by Tuesday; we’ll probably form new groups based on those pitches.

Revisions of math sections – 3 pts – Due Thursday 9/28 before class Make sure that your volume/area/length and dimension sections are correct, clear, and complete. This should include a discussion of behavior “at infinity”, possibly with a geometric series, and a dimension calculation that uses logarithms. See today’s timeline post for the mathematical details.

Finish Tinkercad Fractal post – 3 pts – Due Tuesday 9/26 before class By the start of class, all sections of your blog post should be completed, including new Fractal Dimension and Thingiverse sections. See the Sept 21 Timeline post for details.

Tinkercad Fractal next steps – Due Thursday 9/21 before class What can you calculate about Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and so on, of your fractal? What about “after infinitly many steps”? Depending on your design, you might be able to say something about length, area, or volume — or maybe even about fractal dimension? Add a section called “Initial Calculations” to your Tinkercad Fractal blog post that describes some measurement for Levels 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, …, 100, …, n …, infinity.

Printed Tinkercad Fractal first draft – 3 pts – Due Tuesday 9/19 before class You now have swipe card access to the space, so print a copy of your Tinkercad Fractal draft. Also update or fix any omissions in your Tinkercad Fractal blog post, and add a section with a photo and description of your first draft print.

Tinkercad Fractal group blog post – 3 pts – Due Thursday 9/14 at the start of class Each group create a new Tinkercad Fractal blog post and complete the sections titled “Group Members” and “First Design Iteration”. Describe the new fractal that you are creating, why you believe it is a fractal, and what tools you are using to design it.

Edit of First Fractal post – 3 pts – Due Tuesday 9/12 before class Add a new section to the end of your First Fractal post titled “3D Printing Results”. Include a photo of your completed print, some notes about the printing process and any new things you’ve learned about your fractal, and (if the model you printed was downloaded from Thingiverse), a link to a “Make” of your print.

First Fractal post – 3 pts – Due Tuesday 9/5 before class Choose a fractal to research and write a blog post about that fractal, plus find a 3D-printable file that represents that fractal. See full instructions and an example blog post at First Fractal – Mandelbrot Set.

Hello post – 3 pts – Due Thursday 8/31 before class Write your first post to the class blog using WordPress. The Hello example – Laura/mathgrrl post is an example of what I am looking for, and also includes objectives, requirements, and tips for this assignment.