First In-Person Workshop: Mathematics of Games

On Saturday, August 28th, the All Girls STEM Society hosted its first in-person workshop in over a year and a half, the Mathematics of Games workshop. After a long year of workshops hosted on Zoom due to the COVID-19 pandemic, both participants and volunteers were excited to be back in person. To ensure safety, all volunteers were fully vaccinated and masked, and girls were encouraged to wear masks, use hand sanitizer and remain socially distant. Maggie Yao, a senior at Canyon Crest Academy and Emma Hong, a senior at The Bishop’s School introduced girls to the basics of probability and game theory. 

Throughout the workshop, participants enjoyed the interactive elements of the workshop like answering questions to win prizes like cute pens and erasers. As the workshop went on, they gained confidence in their ability to answer questions and began to participate more. Girls loved getting to know the volunteers who were stationed at their tables to help them through challenges and solving problems. Participants also had so much fun with their tablemates, discussing problems like the classic prisoner's dilemma (featured on the right) with them. 

In the Prisoner's Dilemma, would you betray or be silent?

A group of participants worked together to make this amazing game!

Participants enjoy their cookies and bananas :)

After a brief outdoor break with cookies and bananas (an AGSS classic), participants headed back inside for the final activity: working in groups to create an interactive game using their new probability and game theory knowledge. Participants made amazingly creative games like the one featured to the left  entitled “Welcome to TicketWorld,” a game of chance to win raffle tickets. ​​

Overall, the All Girls STEM Society’s first in-person workshop was a huge success. Not only were participants able to stay safe, they also had a blast learning about probability and game theory while playing games and using their creativity. For more photos from the workshop, click the link below.  

Gallery

If you missed this workshop or want to attend another, click the link below to learn more about our Python workshop, held on September 25th.

Python Workshop

Participants love raising their hands to answer questions!

Volunteers walk around the room to make sure participants get the help they need!