School Spotlight: Foam boards help students understand math

Pamela Cotant:

The foam board models of dream homes created by seventh-grade students at Glacial Drumlin School in Cottage Grove sported extra features like swimming pools, an airplane and the "world's biggest hot tub."

While they were busy conceptualizing their fantasy homes, the students were using math as they learned how to create something to scale.

Trenton Herber, 12, and Henry Huston, 13, decided to make a house in the shape of a pyramid, which was spray-painted gold and taken apart in three pieces to reveal the interior, which included a basketball court.

"It was pretty hard because all the angles had to be like perfect or it would just fall apart," Trenton said.

Peyton Blang, Anissa Dimmig and Ali Dorn, all 12 years old, had a Cape Cod-style home in mind when they used Popsicle sticks to create siding for their home. The group ended up making adjustments when they realized their blueprints didn't account for the thickness of the foam board.

Posted by Jim Zellmer at December 11, 2013 12:03 AM
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