What kind of a class gives you the opportunity to plant a seed and watch it grow into a beautiful spiral of life, to sit in a circle and Meditate over the wonderful things in life and release the bad, to walk your teachers two energetic dogs, to read stories of love and inspiration, to spend time with children and help volunteer with the elderly, and to even build a space ship and watch it fly to the stars, all while you learn about math?  It may sound amazing, but those are exactly the things that I did in Math Fundamentals with Computers!
Over the course of one semester I learned about so many different things about life, nature, spiritualism, and math it is hard to recall every piece of information.  Math Fun is recommended for people who have been hurt by math in the past, who like me have never found their place in the mathematical community.  The first thing that surprised me about the class was that there were no text books or handouts, rather an interactive computer program called SeeLogo which allows YO" to create amazing pictures and designs all while you learn about coordinates, the Pythagoras Theorem, ATAN, and Pi.
The first program we used on SeeLogo was how to make a spiral of life.  This enabled us to learn about the degrees of a circle, in order to calculate how many 'babies' our spirals would have, and also to determine
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how fast and at what rate our spirals would grow.  We made beautiful  pictures as we became comfortable with how the program worked.  Next we continued our chapter on coordinates by using the MT and JT commands to trace shapes on the screen.  This required us to do calculations to decide how far we should move our lines in order to trace them correctly.  When we conquered this challenge we moved on to the Pythagoras Theorem and ATAN where we also traced lines and figured out  angle measurements.  Next was Pi, where we learned the origin and meaning of the number, it is the ratio between the length of the circumference and the diameter on a circle.  Finally we prepared to combine all of these skills to use them for our final project. a journey to the stars.  Not only did we learn about math and its beauty in class, but we also earned about the beauty of life.  This was made easier by weekly visits made by Dani's two dogs, Max and Darcy, and students from a local elementary school in Ithaca.  Some lucky volunteers would take the dogs walks, and when the kids came we taught them how to make their own spirals of life then displayed them on a website so they could share them with their families.  Stories on Dani's website helped to spread love and ring to whoever read them, so those would also be read weekly in class. there was only one book assigned in class and that was the biography of  Peace Pilgrim, a woman who walked over 25,000 miles to spread her of peace and love.  As a class we would also sit in circles, turn the lights off and meditate over the things that were bothering us.  This became especially Helpful when our nation suffered the heart stopping attacks that occurred On September eleventh.
For our final Project each group prepared a poster sharing experiences, poems, photographs, and any other uplifting or inspiring information, as well as a paper that sums up what we have learned so far, and a computer project of a spiral of life and a journey to the stars.  In my group, we were a little unsure of how to start our journey to the stars, so we all shared information and collaborated ideas, we kept Positive attitudes and gave each other inspiration and support and were able to complete the journey with each others help.
Some things I have learned in Math Fun are that it is okay to make mistakes, everyone makes them and they help you in the learning process, as long as you do not give up.  Also it is good to think positive thoughts because negative ones will impede your mental process and eat you from the inside.  It is better to stay peaceful and optimistic.  I would like to thank Dani Novak for letting me experience such a wonderful course.  I have recommended it to many people and told them that they will love the kind and inviting atmosphere as well as the magical and exciting things they will learn!