March 2, 2012
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FORT BELVOIR, Va. – ERDC Topographic Engineering Center (TEC) Mathematician Katlyn Winter and Nicole Wayant, a graduate of the Department of Defense and ERDC Science, Mathematics and Research for Transformation (SMART) program and currently a TEC geographer and mathematician, recently provided a presentation on the inter disciplinary relationships between math and geography for second and sixth graders at Fort Belvoir Elementary School.
Student participation was encouraged by open discussion and brief demonstrations of social networking analysis.
Using a ball of yarn, Wayant created a social network with the sixth graders and introduced them to graph theory and how it can be used to study Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. Additionally, they discussed Google Earth, remote sensing, matrices, and images.
Winter created a routing problem for the second grade class that focused on adding and number comparison that challenged students to solve the fastest way of completing a mission based on the different routes available.
Learn more about the SMART program at http://smart.asee.org/sponsoring_facilities/list_by_service/army/erdc.