The Google company has made many advances in technology over the years in how we look at the world around us. Who would have thought that eventually they would come up with artificial intelligence, surprise! A couple of years ago, Google acquired an AI company called DeepMind and last year unveiled its new program: Alpha Go AI, an artificial intelligence program designed to play the ubiquitous Go game popular in many Asian cultures. Alphao Go made International news last year in a landmark competition in March 2016 when DeepMind had its AI play against world time Go champion Lee Sedol from South Korea and beat him 4-1 in a five match game, the first time a person was outwitted in Go by a machine!
The online science magazine New Scientist mentioned this accomplishment in an article last year. Now the magazine, among many news channels today, have announced some more exciting news…AlphaGo has actually been winning more Games…incognito.
Timothy Revell, writing in the New Scientist today, just announced that Demis Hassabis, the founder of DeepMind, tweeted that the company has been using AlphaGo to play against other masters of Go on an online Go website called Tygem under the pseudonym “Master”. The company plans to actual go through with more “official testing” to put their AI to work.
So its another big step for artificial intelligence. Better hone in on our Go skills as AlphaGo is stepping up its game!
(The picture featured at the top is of instructor Dr. Zhiping You leading a lesson on strategies in playing Go at last year’s 2016 Georgetown Summer Camp with Areteem Institute. He also discussed artificial intelligence and the famous match between Lee Sedol and the AlphaGo AI).
Yesterday, on Dec. 5, 2016, Areteem Institute held a math teacher training workshop, which is one of a series of professional development sessions we are conducting at the Southlands Christian School in southern California. Five high school math teachers participated in the two hour workshop covering the topic of “How to Effectively Teach Algebra Problem Solving”. We presented hands-on activities to demonstrate interesting ways to visualize abstract algebra concepts. We talked about engaging students with various problem solving techniques to stimulate critical thinking and how by using a variety of approaches requiring certain knowledge points, students can be engaged even though they may be at different academic levels. We are delighted to report that the teachers enjoyed the training very much. They are happy that the professional development is relevant to them, and they can use the techniques in their classes. We look forward to hosting more workshops with them throughout the year.
Are you interested in teacher training in mathematics? Then Areteem Institute can come to your school too! For more information, please contact us in our main office located in Irvine, CA to speak with our staff on how we can bring our innovative workshops to you. With our years of training and academic expertise, our curriculum specialists and instructors will equip your teachers with the skills that will help propel their students to succeed in their math classes. We can tailor the workshops to suit all levels for elementary school, middle school and high school math teachers!
Here are some pictures taken during the workshop on Dec 5th with the Southlands math teachers engaged in hands-on activities and lessons led by John Lensmire, Areteem Institute’s Curriculum and Instructions Director.
Beyond all of the great programs that are offered at Areteem Institute, we also strive to help new and prospective students’ families to locate different options in terms of stimulating and improving their children’s education in mathematics.
As such, STEM Village has provided this year’s listing of their “Top Ten Math Learning Resources” specifically for digital learning. Areteem already includes among its programs online interactive and self-paced courses, competitions and math problem solving but these can also add to a student’s experience as well.
STEM Village is a virtual career guidance center that helps provide the knowledge and resources to families of students interested in STEM subjects in school and helping them to realize the kinds of STEM careers these students may wish to pursue after attending college.
You can take a look at all of the 10 learning websites that STEM Village has provided at the following link for more information:
You may not know this but the exciting field of robotics incorporates mathematics as its core. For example, if a robot travels around a room, it actually uses various sensors that turn measurements into numbers. A robot can then perform multiple functions with ease. So if a robot wants to avoid hitting an obstacle, the robot must recalculate the distance to figure out where to move next. This action follows the formula that speed equals distance divided by time. Furthermore, if a robot with elbow joints needs to reach out for a cup of coffee it uses trigonometry to calculate the angles at its joint and the length that its arm needs to bend.
In our world today, the demand for math in the workplace is increasing at an accelerated rate. We at Areteem therefore prove great opportunities for students who excel in mathematics and we are proud to promote the study of mathematics and all it offers to our next generation of leaders and innovators.
Here is a video of a new version of the Boston Dynamics Atlas, designed to operate outdoors and inside buildings. It is specialized for mobile manipulation. It is electrically powered and hydraulically actuated. It uses sensors in its body and legs to balance and LIDAR and stereo sensors in its head to avoid obstacles, assess the terrain, help with navigation and manipulate objects. This version of Atlas is about 5′ 9″ tall (about a head shorter than the DRC Atlas) and weighs 180 lbs.
Since 2007, Areteem Institute has been dedicated to providing a unique math based summer camp experience for students around the world in middle school and high school. We help to grow the leaders of tomorrow in recognizing how they can achieve success in their own lives and in their academic studies. Students who have been involved in Areteem’s Summer Camps have gone to become accepted in some of the best universities in the country and have become successful throughout their professional careers.
A behind-the-scenes look at what Judges deem important, as demonstrated at the L.A. Science Fair
With hundreds of exhibits from middle school & high school students it may be difficult to stand out amongst the innovative and visual displays at the 2015 L.A. Science and Engineering Fair. We have some insider recommendations from Areteem Institute’s own Director Ms. Kelly Ren, who was chosen as a Judge/Chair for Physics in the Junior division. “It takes more than a good presentation or idea to impress the judges. If a student is aiming for top awards there are first some basic guidelines to follow.” Ms. Kelly Ren explains that the judging is based on an average score derived from the following categories: Creativity (30 points), Scientific Thought OR Engineering Goals (30 points), Thoroughness (15 points), Skill (15 points), and Clarity (10 points). It’s easy for judges to see which students have actually learned from their projects and this is the prime goal and basis for success. Did the students take the time to actually understand their subject matter? Did they conduct the proper experiments to assess the issue or hypothesis? And most important, are the results accurate and clear?
Ms. Kelly Ren notes that “about 20-25% of participants actually get awarded, and these top performers usually have an original idea that the students have thoroughly understood and demonstrated in a professional manner to be correct and interesting.” In the junior physics category there were 39 projects entered with 1 1st place, 1 2nd place, 1 3rd place and 9 honorable mentions. The top awards for this event went to some very innovative and interesting exhibits, like: The Visualization of Sound, a presentation that uniquely showed how complex sound waves actually look, using sand spread patterns and even propane fueled flames that visually depict the sound waves. One other impressive exhibit was the Roller Coaster G’s, where a student not only passionately rode numerous roller coasters to gather data but took the time to explore the actual science behind the experiences.
Then there are the little things. Ms. Kelly Ren indicated that “although some presenters had a good exhibit, with solid supporting documentation, they could have gotten better scores by paying more attention to the little details, the simple things”. Many students have worked for months on their presentations and could have given better impressions by having a firm handshake or being professionally dressed. One thing that is hard to be taught but is probably the most important, in science fair exhibitions or even academic life in general, is to have a passion for the subject matter. Ms. Kelly Ren emphasizes “Know your subject matter and enjoy the experience of learning – success will follow”.
and want to learn how to create one yourself then you’ll want to join us for our fun and unique series of video game design classes. We’ll walk you through a creative journey to create your own 2D video game from scratch. The fun starts by learning fundamentals of video game design. Design and build your own video game with your own made up characters and levels. Develop your game by learning the basic mechanics of game design, including object oriented programming. Through game physics application, you’ll be introduced to scripted programming and platform gaming.
In all our classes, we emphasize a creative and inventive for fun and innovative video games. All this and you get to take home your own personalized video game to share with family and friends.
Please join us for loads of fun learning the fundamentals of programming and video game design, an experience of a lifetime unearthing your creativity and technological skills!
