Hasta La Gadget!

Photo: Children create patterns and tessellations with brightly colored magnetic shapes in the Miles of Tiles exhibit, featured at the 2014 Math Fair.

We tend to think of math as a series of numbers and symbols on paper, often preceding a list of multiple-choice answers intentionally presented to confound you. But what if we could change the perception of math from being an enigma to being a part of our everyday lives?
Math is everywhere around us, and it’s beautiful.

Math imparts the perfect proportion of sweet to salty in your favorite foods and drives the unforgettable melody of the summer’s most hummable tune. Math also defines the processes that convert the sun’s rays into clean energy and drives the research behind new generations of life-saving medications. Math skills have become so fundamental to our 21st-century economy that the Department of Commerce expects jobs in science, technology and engineering and math (STEM) fields to grow by 17 percent between 2008 and 2018, compared to 9.8 percent for non-STEM occupations.

What’s more, STEM skills are in demand in other fields. So much so that a significant proportion of graduates with STEM degrees go into careers in non-STEM fields. Even better, regardless of what field they go into, STEM degree holders earn more money, according to the department’s report.

So what does it mean to have STEM skills? All STEM-related fields, whether for study or careers, require fluency in math, in addition to problem-solving and critical thinking skills. Math during the school years, it seems, is the most profound stumbling block to success. Nearly three-quarters of U.S. 12th graders are not proficient in math, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress.

This stark reality doesn’t just keep students from the most lucrative careers. ChildTrends reports that lacking basic math skills can make daily tasks a struggle for young people, from tabulating a grocery bill to applying for jobs.

The message is clear: we need all students to succeed in math. But to fully grasp math – to learn to love it, even – math must be understood as more than numbers and symbols on paper. It needs to be engaging, engrossing and enriching for kids. Unfortunately, as a society, we have not done a great job with that. And if we’re going to create a new generation of STEM-thinkers and problems solvers to solve the world’s most challenging problems, we’re going to have to change the way we view math.

One way is by making math hands-on, interactive and, yes, even fun.

Children learn by playing, so we need to let them play with mathematical concepts. It’s not as hard as it sounds.

Nonprofit companies — like the MIND Research Institute, where I work — are committed to changing how students learn math in the classroom. But we can’t completely change children’s relationship with math education by focusing solely on their time at school. Parents and communities need to be involved in the shift. That’s the goal of the one-day Math Fair: At the Square Root of Fun on August 2: to showcase the beauty of math in the world around us and allow children of all ages to get their hands on math in a completely fun and utterly engaging ways.

Image: Budding mathematicians can design their own roller coaster and measure the speed generated by different slopes in the Roller Graphicoaster exhibit.

From a math-themed laser game and gyroscope to theatrical performances and sing-alongs, the fair brings math to life in countless and unexpected ways for children of all ages. For the preschool set, marble runs explore physics, floor puzzles encourage spatial thinking, and a one-of-a-kind bounce house illustrates the geometric shapes produced by planes intersecting a cone. For older children, an Imagination Playground encourages them to design and build their own structure while a one-of-a-kind train ride carries visitors on a journey through four dimensions. I like to think that we are creating a pop-up math museum for a day.

Putting on a math fair for at least 2,000 guests that brings math to life is no small effort. But I’m witnessing an impressive groundswell of support bubbling up to bolster the fair’s goals. Major corporations such as Microsemi are lending their support to encourage the next generation to embrace math. Of course, they know first-hand how important these skills are for their workforce today and in the future. A small army of volunteers, 200 strong, are already at work to make the day a success.

With a lot of inspiration and a little luck, this math fair will make a meaningful impact on some children’s view of math – not as part of a standardized test, but as something that makes a difference in our world and in their lives.

For more information about the math fair and MIND Research, please visit: http://www.mindresearch.net/mathfair/

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Cisco cash grants supported the conversion of math instructional software to an online format, extending MIND Research Institute’s reach from 55,000 elementary students to 630,000. Language-independent animations help all students develop critical thinking, reasoning, and mathematical abilities. For more information, visit: http://csr.cisco.com/casestudy/mind-research-institute

We’ve all been there—that carefully planned, painstakingly executed lunch sent to school with the kids comes back smushed and uneaten. If your darlings are rejecting what’s packed in their lunchbox, know that you’re not alone. Even food professionals get maddening results. I spent years learning how to make lunches for little ones as a personal chef with a specialty in cooking for kids. I remember when a family of young boys I cooked for found out I was sneaking vegetables into mini meatloaves sent for lunch. After that, they started shredding apart cupcakes for veggie inspection as well! I would introduce a variety of foods for afternoon snacks, so I could see first-hand what was devoured quickly. I learned that when there’s a hit–work it. Of course every kid has his or her likes and dislikes, but here are a few foolproof tricks I discovered over the years for making bag lunches a little more fun:

1. Skewer It
Behold the power of a skewer. Threading sandwich squares onto a skewer gives the ordinary a magical makeover. Or, rely on an all-skewered lunch by stringing together bites of food. Try some of these new combinations:

-Pineapple-ham skewers topped with a maraschino cherry

-Vinaigrette-tossed cherry tomato-mozzarella skewers

-Salami-cheddar skewers with the optional olive

-Cheese tortellini and chicken skewers

2. Think Outside the Bread

Bread can be overrated and, yes, boring day after day. Instead, lean on sandwiching your protein with fruits and vegetables. Some ideas:

-Swirl chopped sundried tomatoes into cream cheese and spread between two cucumber slices.

-Slather almond butter or sunflower seed butter between two rings of apples.

-Spread hummus between carrots sliced on the bias.

-Dot pear wedges with a spreadable cheese and wrap with thinly sliced turkey or roast beef secured with a toothpick.

-Leftover breakfast pancakes or waffles can turn into sandwiches with a layer of berry jam and cream cheese.

-Send along lettuce wraps for self-assembly: lettuce, tuna or chicken salad, and shredded carrots.

3. Stamp It

I’ve always cut sandwiches into sticks or used cookie cutters to fashion the bread into shapes like flowers for Spring, pumpkins for Halloween, stars for the holidays, and such. Fellow cookbook author Debbie Koenig took it up a notch. With a notoriously picky 7-year-old son (and, yes, she realizes the irony), she found success using Star Wars cookie cutters. Squishy whole-wheat bread works the best, leaving a detailed imprint of the faces. “I know that if I use funky cookie cutters on his sandwich, he’ll at least eat it. Yoda and Darth Vader are especially popular,” she says. Any extra sandwich pieces from the Star Wars cut outs are punched out into letters with alphabet cutters to spell out a word.

4. Dip It
Kids and adults alike are suckers for dippers, another option for bringing life to everyday lunches. Try:

-Sending along store-bought hummus or make your own by whirling together edamame beans, black beans, or cannellini beans with a swig of olive oil in a blender. Serve with baby carrots, radish slices, or sugar snap peas.

-Celery sticks can be dunked into egg salad, crackers into tuna salad, or mozzarella cheese sticks into marinara sauce.

-Swirl a dollop of berry preserves or jam into yogurt for a fruit-dipper.

-Match pita triangles with a Tzatziki-style spread made of Greek yogurt, grated cucumber, and lemon juice.

5. Snack It

The reason Bento boxes have soared in popularity are because they’re an easy way to send a hodgepodge of small, snacky portions. “Kids are captive audiences at lunch, plus they’re hungry, so I try to include a couple of different types of vegetables, pasta with peas in it and then halved grape tomatoes on the side,” says Anya Hoffman, an editor at the James Beard Foundation and a mom of two. “They’ll eat more vegetables at lunch then they will at dinner, especially when they’re in cute little portions.” Don’t have a Bento box? Use silicone cupcake cups to portion out food like mandarin oranges, pretzel sticks, cheese squares, salami rounds, red pepper slices, and pickles.

6. Shrink It and Freeze It
When meatloaf is on tap for dinner, I always try to make a double portion, pouring the excess into a muffin tin or a mini muffin tin. Also, for kids who are vegetable averse, meatloaf or meatballs can be stuffed with healthier items like tofu or pureed vegetables (especially yellow squash which remains mostly sight-unseen). A few more ideas:

-Bulk up cornbread batter with corn kernels and shredded cheddar cheese; pour into a mini muffin tin over sliced hot dogs for mini, portable corn dogs.

-Stir 1 or 2 eggs into mac and cheese to hold it together before making into mini mac muffins. Freeze and add to lunches during weeks when time is tight.

7. Enhance It

In a morning rush, just dress up what you already have boxed for lunch. Spruce up a sandwich or tortilla roll-up with a food pick adorned with the cuteness of a bumblebee or ladybug. Turn apples or bananas into a funny face by adhering googly candy eyeballs. Or, use edible markers to write a sweet note onto fruit slices, bread, and more.

We’ve partnered with American Express’ new Amex EveryDay℠ Credit Card and experts like Andrea Lynn, the author of this post, to bring you this series about getting the most out of everyday moments. The new Amex EveryDay Credit Card rewards you for the things you already buy, everyday.

There’s a new Captain America coming to town.

Sam Wilson, Captain America’s longtime partner The Falcon, will be replacing Steve Rogers this fall in the comic book series, Marvel Chief Creative Officer Joe Quesada revealed on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” Wednesday night.

“Well if there is one bird associated with America, it is the falcon,” Colbert remarked.

Wilson will officially take on the cowl and shield in “All-New Captain America #1” by Rick Remender and Stuart Immonen.

Colbert addressed the fact that Wilson is black, to which Quesada said, “I don’t see colors.” This prompted Colbert to ask, “If you don’t see colors, how do you do comic books?”

According to The Hollywood Reporter, Wilson is the second former sidekick to take on the Captain America identity in the past decade, and will be the seventh character to use the name in Marvel continuity.

“I’ve been having a lot of fun writing Sam,” Remender said in a Marvel.com interview. “It’s a completely different attitude. The fact that he’s not a soldier shifts things up a bit. Sam’s not going to be Steve. Steve can be very rigid. That can be kind of joyless at times, whereas Sam is absolutely not that.”

While there have been other replacements for Rogers, Wilson will be the first person of color to appear as the title lead in the comic. The character of Isaiah Bradley, whose story paralleled the Tuskegee syphilis study, was told in a stand-alone miniseries, Comicbook.com reported.

Rogers recently had the Super-Soldier Serum drained from his system as part of an attack by the Iron Nail, causing his body to rapidly begin to resemble its biological age.

I think it’s safe to say that this picture is better than most Michael Bay movies. Taken by Cpl Neil Bryden of the British Army, it shows an Apache attack helicopter flying away from a gigantic fiery Godzilla smoke monster explosion. So damn cool.

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