This one-week summer camp will use the unique archeological discoveries at the African U.N. World Heritage site of Ishango to explore the origin of mathematical thought and applications to modern science. Age-appropriate for middle to high school students.
Ishango, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, became famous through the discovery in 1959 of the “Ishango Bone,” an intricately incised 25,000-year-old artifact thought to be the earliest evidence of mathematical thought in the world. It bears three columns of marks, one of which are the prime numbers between 10 and 20, and others so arranged as to represent the first known groupings of numbers into "bases." The artifact was the inspiration for the opening scene of the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the focus of a STEM European Union educational program sponsored by Belgium in 2006 targeting Afro-European youth. The ICSM Ishango STEM Summer Camp will be the first U.S. launch of such an Africa-focused STEM program, intended to engage African-American students, but open to all. Preparing students in STEM subjects beginning in primary and secondary school is essential to priming the healthcare educational pipeline and redressing the historical disparities that still plague modern medicine. The curriculum has been developed uniquely by scientists, mathematicians, and educators and will be offered in-person at Virginia's state museum, the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville. Cost of the one-week program is $100, inclusive of all lab and fieldtrip supplies, a personal Foldscope microscope, lunches and snacks, and a complementary Ishango field cap. .
Ishango, located in the Democratic Republic of Congo, became famous through the discovery in 1959 of the “Ishango Bone,” an intricately incised 25,000-year-old artifact thought to be the earliest evidence of mathematical thought in the world. It bears three columns of marks, one of which are the prime numbers between 10 and 20, and others so arranged as to represent the first known groupings of numbers into "bases." The artifact was the inspiration for the opening scene of the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the focus of a STEM European Union educational program sponsored by Belgium in 2006 targeting Afro-European youth. The ICSM Ishango STEM Summer Camp will be the first U.S. launch of such an Africa-focused STEM program, intended to engage African-American students, but open to all. Preparing students in STEM subjects beginning in primary and secondary school is essential to priming the healthcare educational pipeline and redressing the historical disparities that still plague modern medicine. The curriculum has been developed uniquely by scientists, mathematicians, and educators and will be offered in-person at Virginia's state museum, the Virginia Museum of Natural History in Martinsville. Cost of the one-week program is $100, inclusive of all lab and fieldtrip supplies, a personal Foldscope microscope, lunches and snacks, and a complementary Ishango field cap. .