![[University of Waterloo]](/goldbar.gif)
| Yesterday |
Tuesday, August 31, 2004
|
Editor: Chris Redmond credmond@uwaterloo.ca |
![[Hand gestures atop truck]](/images/2004/0831arch1.gif)
![[Last day for packing . . . first day of class]](/images/2004/0831arch2.gif)
Equipment
large and small is on its way from Environmental Studies II to the
new architecture building in Cambridge, which opens for business next
week. Work started Friday and will continue to at least Thursday, says
Jeff Lederer in the school of architecture office.
Left, a worker from Process
Mechanical Installations, the firm that's shifting the heavy
equipment, gestures as a machine from the workshop is loaded onto his
flatbed truck yesterday morning.
Right: the blackboard that sets out the moving schedule is itself tagged
for trucking to the new site. Photos by Chris Hughes, UW Graphics.
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But 10-year-olds aren't supposed to tackle something like that until after they've heated up the computer playing Frog Palace ("Pay for stones so the Frog King can build his frog palace"). That's the premise of MathFrog, a web site created by UW's Centre for Education in Mathematics and Computing and the Centre for Learning and Teaching Through Technology.
![[Frog]](http://cemc.uwaterloo.ca/~schurter/main/main1/main/images/crazyFrog_template.gif)
The new site is introduced in the summer issue of
MathTies, the mathematics faculty's alumni newsletter.
Says the front-page article:
"Most adults are well aware that in today's
society students who have acquired a good understanding of the
fundamentals of mathematics are less restricted in later studies
and careers.
"Exposure to a variety of teaching methodologies is beneficial to really understand mathematics.
"Computerized mathematics games captivate students' interest but many may provide little in terms of long-term understanding. A steady diet of paper and pencil exercises, no matter how well-planned, frequently creates disinterested students who complete assigned work without sufficient long-term understanding.
"Folks in Math at Waterloo strongly believe that integration of these two approaches can be a very effective and enjoyable method of reinforcing and practicing the fundamentals of mathematics. Therefore, they created mathfrog.ca, a free mathematics site of Fun Resources and Online Games for parents, teachers and students in grades 4, 5 and 6.
"The site provides a series of free self-contained 45- to 60-minute lessons, each of which combines an excellent mathematics game or technological tool with appropriate printable paper and pencil follow-up exercises. Expectations in the Ontario curriculum are always addressed."
The article goes on to note that CEMC "is devoted to the creation of enrichment activities for schools. Notable among these are the internationally recognized Canadian Mathematics Competitions, a comprehensive series of problems books, and problem-solving workshops for students and teachers."
She tells the story of Panchuk's winter work term: "When Neal learned of a chance to do so, he was not going to let it pass him by. He landed a job at a small architecture firm in Seattle named EDGE LLC and was able to experience a co-op term which represented everything he could have hoped for."
![[At desk]](/images/2004/0831panchuk.gif)
At EDGE, says the article,
Panchuk (right) "found himself involved in an opportunity of a
lifetime. From his past work terms at the Greater Toronto
Airports Authority, Construct Architecture Studio in New York,
and Diamond and Schmitt Architects Inc. in Toronto, Neal had
gained a wealth of experience as well as outstanding evaluations
at each of these places.
"This background allowed Robert Swain, a member of EDGE LLC, to trust Neal to work closely with him on an international competition to design a master plan for a new coastal city in China. EDGE LLC was selected from a list of 487 firms worldwide and then short-listed to be among three finalists. The final master plan that Neal helped to create was chosen as the winner."
Panchuk became one of four people, including Swain, directly involved in the production of the master plan. When he arrived at EDGE, he quickly had to learn the computer program that the firm used. His previous encounters with various computer platforms made it easier for him to learn the relevant office software. He translated all of the theoretical and written details of the master plan into a series of digital models and visual sequences that effectively captured the essence of this new community.
He explains that Lang Ya City Group in the Shandong Province is intended to cover an area of 100 square kilometres (about the size of Vancouver) and will be constructed over the next sixteen years. One of Panchuk's proudest accomplishments was independently designing the marine institute for the city.
Swain had nothing but praise for the student and his exceptional performance. "Neal's disciplined approach, innovative and responsive style, and commitment to the project were consistent and beneficial to the entire team and design results. This was an extremely challenging assignment and his results were extraordinary," says Swain.
| WHEN AND WHERE |
|
Cold water shutdown in Student Life Centre, 1:30 to
8 p.m.
Tim Horton's in the SLC, ribbon-cutting Wednesday 7:30 a.m. Tim;s open Wednesday-Friday 7:30 to 4; September 6-12, 7 a.m. to midnight; 24-hour operation begins September 13. Warrior baseball vs. Brock, Wednesday 9 a.m., SkyDome, Toronto. |
Julie Bauer, digital production manager in UW Graphics, sends this note aimed at fall term instructors: "Don't forget to send your materials to Courseware, as the fall term is just around the corner. If you'd like a course pack made up for fall please mail materials to Courseware/Graphics, COM, or come and see us in the Commissary, Monday-Friday 8:30 to 4:30. We look forward to making your books!"
Old-timers, particularly those associated with computing at UW, are mourning the death on August 20 of Paul Cress, who worked here for a short time in the 1960s but left a lasting mark. "Paul was one of the early Waterloo computer science pioneers whose WATFOR and WATFIV texts (written with Wes Graham and Paul Dirksen) are remembered by many UW students," says Pat Cunningham in the faculty of mathematics. Cress and Dirksen -- who retired in 1996 as director of computing services -- were joint winners of UW's "Alumnus of the Year" award in 1971 and the Association for Computing Machinery's Grace Murray Hopper Award in 1972. Cress died while he was making a four-week bicycle tour of France and Spain; he was 65. A funeral service was held Monday in Ottawa, and memorial donations to the Parkinson's Society are suggested.
The Waterloo-based Canadian Clay and Glass Gallery has named Virginia Eichhorn, a Kitchener-based art expert and board member of Visual Arts Ontario, as its curator. . . . Belle Mills, well known on campus in the 1960s as an operator at the telephone switchboard, died August 15 at her Nova Scotia home. . . . The Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, which has close links to UW, has announced that its "grand opening gala", as it moves into its new building beside Waterloo Park, will be held October 1 and 2. . . .
CAR