The Beautiful math of coral (and crochet)
Margaret Wertheim leads a project to re-create the creatures of the coral reefs using a crochet technique invented by a mathematician -- celebrating the amazements of the reef, and deep-diving into the hyperbolic geometry underlying coral creation.
Video sourced from TED
Click here for our ClickView playlist to explore and learn more about coral reefs and the effects of coral bleaching.
Image sourced from Stitchlily, made for the Irish Hyperbolic Crocheted coral Reef - Science Gallery, Dublin 2010
Sink or Swim : marine debris on land vs the seafloor
Imagine you are walking along a beach. You spot pieces of rubbish – a plastic bag, a metal can, or cigarette butts. Would you find these same items just steps away below the ocean waves?
Our term 2 STEM project involves creating our own Canterbury Girls' SC crochet coral reef to bring awareness to the devastation of marine life, especially in Australian reefs. Two problems our oceans face are plastic pollution and climate change, both calamities need creative, engineered STEM solutions to solve.
Crochet is a unique way to replicate the frilly forms of reef creatures and in doing so raise awareness of coral reef sustainability. Crochet can also represent the mathematical theories of “hyperbolic” geometry, an alternative to “Euclidean” geometry we learn in Mathematics. Living things have had millions of years to develop forms that represent hyperbolic surfaces and mathematicians have spent time over the last few centuries, trying to prove these surfaces could not exist. A Mathematician Dr. Daina Taimina at Cornell University showed they do and she used crochet to model her proof!
Our reef will be a collaborative effort and the student meet ups will be
Every Friday in the STEM room, starting on May 6th (week 2, term 2).
Come along to learn how to crochet, or pick up some patterns to complete at home.
We would love to involve our whole Canterbury Girls' SC school community, so if you can crochet, you might like to contribute to our growing reef by following any of the crochet patterns on this page and bringing your work to the front office. To fit with our sustainability theme, we would love the material you use for your crochet to be sourced from recycled materials, left over yarn, pulled from an old jumper, purchased from an opportunity shop, or even plastic! If you cannot crochet, you can follow the video links on this page to learn or donate materials to our project.
The start of our CGSC Crochet coral reef!
Below are some patterns to create crochet coral!
You may drop off your models at the library or in the STEM room for display.
Save the Ocean
Did you know there is approximately over 100 million tons of plastic polluting our ocean? Please watch this amazing stop motion video created by one of our CGSC students.
Video sourced from ClickView
Crocheting Hyperbolic Planes : Daina Taimiņa at TEDxRiga
A mathematician, artist and lecturer at the Cornell University, USA, Daina Taimiņa one day picked up a crochet hook, bright crochets and visualied apparently very complicated mathematical concepts that prior to Daina's artwork were only understood by highly experienced mathematicians. Playing with the crotchets, Daina has created an entirely different understanding of the hyperbolic planes and has created a tangible way for the young scholars to master it. Daina is passionate about art, travelling and the geometry in the ornaments of various cultures.
Video sourced from TEDx Talks
How the crenellated forms of Hyperbolic crochet emerge, when you increase at a constant rate. The inspiration came from The Institute for Figuring's website, www.theiff.org
Video sourced from Shopetsy
Before we get into non-Euclidean geometry, we have to know: what even is geometry? What's up with the Pythagorean math cult? Who was Euclid, for that matter? And what the heck is the 5th Postulate?
Video sourced from Extra Credits
Zoom into a coral reef and discover photosynthetic algae inside the coral’s cells. Reef-building corals rely on these symbionts for their survival. This stunning animation is perfect for all levels of biology and environmental science classes.
Video sourced from biointeractive
