WEBVTT

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Sonia Kovalevsky Day at Western Oregon University is a Saturday workshop for high school girls.

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The purpose of Sonia Kovalevsky Day is to encourage the girls in their study of mathematics 

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and show them that it can be interesting and fun and have a purpose.  

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 So, we did that by making this bigger circle but we want to write down what the number is. 

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Today the participants will be engaging in sessions on geometry.

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They will learn about what happens if you take a sting and you put it around the equator and you add 6 feet to the string.  

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How much space do you create?  The result is very surprising.

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They will also be looking at games, simple games and learn how to win them every time using  mathematics

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so they can play their friends and always win.  

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Finally, they will be looking at the shape of doughnuts and coffee cups and thinking about how to stretch and turn different shapes in space. 

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 Balance seems to be an important concept for this game and so being the 'balancer' of the game is the winning strategy.

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This day is important to me personally because as a teacher so many times I've heard girls say to me that math is too hard

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and it will drive them away from pursuing a career that they are really interested in.   

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So, I am hoping that today they can see that math isn't that hard, that they are capable of doing it and can pursue a career in mathematics.