Archimedes-lab.org
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Archimedes-lab.org is a free and collaborative edutainment website developed and maintained by Gianni A. Sarcone and Marie-Jo Waeber, two authors and writers with more than twenty years of experience in the fields of visual thinking and education. The main goal of the site is to popularize math through puzzles and games.
Archimede-lab.org is divided into three main categories: puzzles & tests, illusions & paradoxes, oddities & curiosities. Among the proposed educational things, visitors will find number games, riddles, puzzles with downloadable pieces, perception puzzles and interactive optical illusions. A principal objective throughout the site is the enhancement of critical thinking skills. Here’s a quote from Scientific American (May 27, 2003): "This virtual lab borrows the empirical spirit and creative curiosity that Archimedes brought to his work and invites visitors to explore with the same expectations for mind-blowing discovery."
Probably the most strictly educational section of the site is Math to Discover, which contains discussions of the history of numbers and mathematical patterns, to name a few. Also of interest are the Puzzles to Make and Puzzles to Solve sections. Visitors can follow online instructions to create geometrical curiosities or browse a small selection of impossible object images. Most math puzzles presented in these sections are selected for the deceptive simplicity of their statement, or the elegance of their solution. They range over geometry, probability, algebra, topology, and logic. All require a certain ingenuity, but usually only pre-college math.
Archimedes-lab.org has won several awards from scientific and educational publications, including a Scientific American Web Award in 2003, the NCTM (National Council of Teacher of Mathematics) Webby, and a mention in Merlot, the Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online teaching.
Contents |
[edit] Site contents
Indexes: Puzzles & Tests, illusions & paradoxes, oddities & curiosities.
Categories: Puzzles to Make, Puzzles to Solve, Tricks to Perform, Tools and Automata, Optical Illusions, Tessellations, Labyrinths & Mazes, Peculiar Puzzles, Online Games, Math Curiosities, Tangram-like Puzzles, World Excentricities.
More information about this material
Commercial?: No. This non-profit web site sells books and puzzles to help fund its activities.
Type of site: Informational resource site.
Owner: Gianni A. Sarcone and Marie-Jo Waeber, authors.
Primary Audience: Grade School, Middle School, High School, College General Ed.
Technical Requirements: A javascript-enabled browser.
Language: English and partially in Italian and French.
Copyright: Yes. However, users may share and attach addenda, errata and discussions to articles.
Source Code Available: No.
Section 508 compliant: No.
Keywords: Mathematics, geometry, puzzle, optical, illusion, tessellation, shape.
Sitemap including puzzles to make and to solve, optical illusions, and various educational activities.
[edit] Selected works
[edit] Books from Archimedes' Laboratory
- 2007 Puzzillusions, Carlton Books Ltd, London, ISBN 1-84442-064-7
- 2006 Big Book of Optical Illusions, Barron's Educational Series, New York, ISBN 0-7641-3520-1
- 2006 Nieuwe Optische Illusies, BZZTOH, Netherland, ISBN 90-453-0473-2
- 2006 Optische Illusionen, Weltbild, Germany, ISBN 3-8289-2126-4
- 2006 Nouvelles Illusions d'Optique, France Loisirs, Paris, ISBN 2-7441-9236-8
- 2006 Fantastic Optical Illusions, Carlton Books Ltd, London, ISBN 1-84442-295-X
- 2005 MateMagica, La Meridiana, Italy, ISBN 88-89197-56-0
- 2005 New Optical Illusions, Carlton Books Ltd, London, ISBN 1-84442-327-1
- 2002 Dazzling Optical Illusions, Sterling Books, New York, ISBN 0-8069-8393-0
- 2002 L'Almanach du mathematicien en herbe, Editions Archimede, Paris, ISBN 2-84469-025-4
