First Math Trail to open Sept. 14
CHERRYFIELD — Maine Discovery Museum invites the public to the opening of its first Meaningful Math highlight: The Math Path in Cherryfield at 10:30 a.m. on Monday, Sept. 14. Maine Discovery Museum, Maine’s premier informal science provider, has been selected as one of only four national science hubs for the Meaningful Math grant. Funded by the Simons Foundation as part of its Infinite Sums initiative and led by The Franklin Institute, the two-year grant supports museums nationwide in co-creating local math programming with community partners.
“The support provided by the Simons Foundation reaffirms Maine Discovery Museum as a Maine leader in innovative approaches to STEM education and community engagement and we are thrilled to be able to use our expertise and partnerships for Meaningful Math,” Kate Dickerson, executive director at Maine Discovery Museum, said.
“This program puts community at the core of creating joyful math experiences accessible to all,”Trudi Plummer, MDM Special Projects and newly appointed Math Ambassador for the Infinite Sums initiative, said. “The funding empowers Maine Discovery Museum to highlight the ‘M’ in STEM, often called the silent M, and to expand our statewide impact through strategic partnerships and inclusive, engaging math programs that make STEM more accessible. We’re excited to elevate the voices in our communities, build meaningful learning opportunities, and highlight the beauty and universal nature of math.”
The creation of the Math Path grew out of a simple set of questions: How to help Downeast communities feel that math belongs to them; how to spark curiosity in learners of all ages; and how to make math joyful, beautiful, and distinctly Maine. The result is a set of outdoor math interactives featuring Fibonacci numbers that highlight Maine’s wild flora and fauna, tree-cookie fractions that connect basic math to Maine’s forestry past and future, and a stone abacus tied to counting a clam harvest. The interactives are accessible to all visitors on the Cherryfield EdGE campus trail. The math trail is supplemented by a kit of hands-on activities that have been used across all EdGE campuses this summer. The program will also reach Maine’s five schools on unbridged islands, served by Maine Seacoast Mission’s outreach boat, the Sunbeam.