Recently I was able to attend the first Chief Science Officer (CSO) Math Festival. CSO Sahiba helped to plan the event and presented to those in attendance. Students were able to select two 45-minute breakout sessions to attend in addition to being a part of the general session for everyone. The available sessions included: Interactive Math Problems, Problem Solving Strategies, Math Theory, and Math in Real Life.

 Do you recognize yourself in a mirror? Does your dog? Scientists have determined that most children recognized themselves in a mirror by the age of 2, but what about animals?

In 1970, a scientist named Gordon Gallup Jr. created the Mirror Test or MSR Test to see if animals had self-awareness. It works like this: a mark is painted on an animal in a place they cannot see, like their face, and then they are placed in front of a mirror. If the animal recognizes the mark as being something that shouldn’t be there and attempts to remove it, then they have self-awareness.

I am writing this report about a game called “Dino Crunch” by Goliath Games. It’s really fun because the T-rex tries to bite you. There are big tweezers that you grab the eggs with, and the noises sound like you’re in the wild with the dinosaurs.

I’m 8 and I played with my 5-year-old sister and my mom (she said I didn’t have to tell her age) and we all had fun! Although the tweezers made it hard to pick up the eggs, it was interesting and fun because the T-rex would snap at you when you were least expecting it. This game is for 2 to 4 players, ages 4 and up.