Welcome to the new Shaker Middle School Innovation Spaces

Simulations Center

Mark Kaercher has been a learner, teacher, and maker of math since 1994. After beginning his career as a middle school math teacher in New Hampshire, he returned to his hometown in 2003 to teach mathematics at his alma mater of Shaker High School.

Since the Fall, 2021, Mark has served as the teacher in charge of the Simulations Center. Simulations are a form of experiential learning. These student-centered experiences will utilize a variety of analog and digital tools. In the Sim Center, students will explore how simulations can be used to develop skills and to create experiences, that will imitate real-world activities and processes, in a engaging and safe environment.

The Simulations Center Curriculum includes units in:

Data & Probability Simulations
Origami Simulations & 3D Modeling
Creating & Exploring in Minecraft
Coding & Flying Simulations Using Drones

Mark is a regular presenter at local, regional, and statewide conferences and workshops. He is a recipient of a 2001 Milken Family Foundation National Educator Award, he was the 2011 SEMI Foundation Educator of the Year, he is a NYS Master Teacher Emeritus, and he is a 2025 inductee of the Shaker High School Alumni Hall of Fame.

For the full Simulations Center website, please visit HERE.

Activities & Challenges

Dice Simulator in the Desmos Graphing Calculator

Students build the code in this graphing calculator to create a dice simulator. To see the code, open any of the folders in the sidebar. To try the Emoji Die, click on the circle in row number 6 in the sidebar. To roll the die, simply click on the die!

Borel Dice Simulation

Students explore coin, card, and dice simulations, using both analog and digital tools, including spreadsheets. Borel is a game in which students build simulations to explore the probability of certain outcomes. In the example below, students built a spreadsheet using conditional formatting, logic statements, and data graphing to determine the likeliness of the following:

"Roll a 6d four times. Will some number appear at least 2 times in a row?"

Borel 6d 4x in-a-row

Origami Simulation

In Unit 2, students explore a variety of Origami models. After folding the model, valley (blue) and mountain (red) folds are identified. Then the model is constructed in GeoGebra, and then exported to an Origami Simulator. This is the simulation for folding a Masu Box.

Nets of a Cube

In their grade 6 math curriculum, students learn about and explore nets of geometric solids. After creating a variety of Origami Cubes, students use the Mathigon Polypad below to try to find the 11 nets of a cube. Give it a try for yourself, by highlighting the net and then clicking on the "Fold Net" button at the bottom of the app.

Droneblocks

Drones are used a growing number of industries. Students worked both independently and collaboratively to create drone missions. Students are using the Tello Talent TT drones. Using their Chromeboks, the missions were first coded and run on a simulator, before flying the actual drones.

Droneblocks Blog

Mark Kaercher was invited to write a blog post for Droneblocks, explaining the geometry behind one of the code blocks. This will help students better understand the performance of the code, as they explore simulations with drones in the lab.

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