The exhibit is hosted by the working group www.formulas.it of the Dipartimento di Architettura, University Roma Tre.
Mission of www.formulas.it: informal learning in mathematics, diffusion of mathematical culture, contribution of mathematics to the scientific awareness and scientific citizenship.
Concept of www.formulas.it: we plan, design and set up mathematical exhibits, animated visualizations of abstract structures and hands-on laboratories.
We participated to several editions of Festival Della Scienza in Genova.
Hands-on activities in this context aim to integrate 3D intuition with mathematical intuition. Recent experimental results from the neurosciences show that mathematical activity in humans sets an equilibrium between two brain areas: the brain area dedicated to verbal and analytic representation, and that of spatial representation. As mathematicians operating in a department of Architecture, we act on this experience.
The group is bringing to maker faire a hands-on activity aimed to build the five Platonic polyhedra, starting form paper strips (and not from complicated planare development). This is what the makes the whole thing constructable and easy. The project was thought by Alessandro Faiella (then one of our students) that thanks to a deep understanding of the symmetries of the icosahedron found out a simple way to recompose it.