Learning About Dominoes
A domino is a small flat, rectangular block used as a gaming object. Dominoes are also referred to as bones, cards, men, or pieces, and they are normally twice as long as they are wide. They are marked with an arrangement of spots or pips (as on a die) on one side and blank or identically patterned on the other. The most common set of dominoes has seven pips on both ends, but sets are available with fewer or more pips. A domino may also have a line in the middle to divide it visually into two squares, each containing an identity-bearing face and a blank or matching face. The value of each face is the number of pips on that end, and there are 28 possible values in the most common domino set, called a double-six set.
In a game, each player places his or her dominoes on the table in an effort to form a pattern that is either a line of all identical faces, a full circle, or some other shape. If a player cannot make the required pattern, he or she must pass. The first person to complete the pattern wins.
Some learning challenges impact students like falling dominoes. The joy of watching a line of dominoes fall can be mesmerizing, but the frustration of a single domino that falls before you are done building your masterpiece is equally distressing. Compensating for a student’s learning challenges can be like trying to build a house of dominoes while you are on stilts.
Dominoes can be a great way to practice and reinforce key math skills. Using a large number of dominoes can be a fun and effective way to develop addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division skills. It is important to teach these concepts in a meaningful way, so children understand the connections between these numbers and real-world applications.
Domino is an old Italian word for a kind of cape worn over a priest’s surplice; an earlier sense referred to the term as a black domino contrasting with the white ones of a bishop’s robe. The English version came into use around 1750.
Hevesh uses test versions of each section of an installation to make sure that it works correctly, and films the process in slow motion so that she can correct mistakes. Eventually, the entire display comes together in a neat and organized fashion, with the biggest 3-D sections going up first, then flat arrangements, and finally the lines of dominoes that connect the whole display together. Hevesh’s detailed planning and precise execution allow her to achieve impressive results. She has even been asked to perform her art for royalty.