Adventures in Cryptography and Geometry
*This course is intended for upper elementary students
Class Schedule
Wednesdays 6:30-7:20 pm PST
September 16, September 23, September 30, October 7, October 14, October 21
Note: Classes are listed in PST, click below to convert time to your time zone.
Course Overview
What do secret codes, surprising number patterns, and geometric puzzles have in common? They all give us opportunities to think like mathematicians!
In this mini-course, students will explore intriguing ideas from cryptography, number theory, and geometry through puzzles, games, and hands-on investigations. We’ll crack codes, uncover hidden patterns in numbers, experiment with unusual shapes, and tackle problems that might seem impossible at first.
Along the way, students will find beautiful patterns, make conjectures, test ideas and counterexamples, and develop creative approaches to challenging problems.
Student Outcomes:
- Apply cryptography basics to encode and crack secret messages through hands-on code-breaking challenges
- Investigate number patterns and make their own conjectures, then test them with examples and counterexamples
- Explore geometric puzzles and unusual shapes to solve problems that first seem impossible
- Develop creative, flexible problem-solving strategies and learn to think like a mathematician
Student Experience
Inventor
Mathematician
Pattern Seeker
Your Teacher: Lora Saarnio
Lora Saarnio is a K-10 math teacher. She was at Nueva School for ten years as a math specialist and most recently, a Middle and Upper School math teacher at Castilleja School. Lora is also Director Emerita of the Julia Robinson Mathematics Festival and has served as faculty for Epsilon Camp. She is the recipient of the Sarah D. Barder Fellowship, a national teaching award from Johns Hopkins CTY, and The Edyth May Sliffe Award for Distinguished Mathematics Teaching from the Mathematical Association of America.
