About Maths Craft New Zealand
Maths Craft brings maths to the masses by celebrating the links between mathematics and craft.
Maths Craft New Zealand is a non-profit initiative founded in 2016 and run by mathematicians Dr Jeanette McLeod and Dr Phil Wilson together with the rest of the Maths Craft Team. We are all passionate about engaging the public with mathematics through craft. Our aim is to show young and old alike the fun, creativity, and beauty in mathematics through the medium of craft, and to demonstrate just how much mathematics there is in craft. By doing all of this, we help people to experience what it means to think like a mathematician.
Every year, Maths Craft run festivals and workshops across New Zealand and interact with thousands of people. Maths Craft festivals provide a welcoming and non-threatening environment where people can engage with the mathematics in craft and the craft in mathematics. Everyone is welcome - experts and amateurs, maths-fans and maths-phobes, the crafty and the curious. Participants are encouraged by our volunteers to have a go at a craft at one of our numerous craft stations, and experience mathematics in a whole new way. We also offer our visitors free public talks about the intersection of maths and crafts, given by leading mathematicians, best-selling authors, and notable crafters. Maths Craft has created instructional handouts for a wide range of activities suitable for all ages and abilities, including making a Möbius strip, crocheting a hyperbolic plane, and folding an origami octahedron, exploring topics such as geometry, topology, combinatorics, and more (see our Resources page to download all of our handouts).
Maths Craft also offer professional development workshops for mathematics teachers, dedicated to bringing Maths Craft to maths class. Our focus is on developing mathematical thinking and self-efficacy in mathematics, and learning techniques for engaging students in the classroom. Participants leave our workshops with a portfolio of Maths Craft lesson plans which tie into the New Zealand curriculum, instructional handouts written by mathematicians, and craft material for their own classes.
If you would like Maths Craft to participate in your event or visit your town or city, please contact us. To keep up with Maths Craft news, please subscribe to our newsletter, and be sure to "like" our Facebook page.