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Margaret Wells wanted her fourth grade students to describe and classify geometric shapes and be able to recognize and appreciate the geometry found in the real world. So she turned to the architecture and design of New Orleans and to NOVA and other PBS programs to build her own interdisciplinary unit on architecture. Wells, a gifted education teacher at Alice Harte Elementary School in Orleans Parish, Louisiana, teaches science and offers enrichment activities in mathematics and language arts. Already familiar with construction-related activities from PBS MATHLINE, Wells was inspired by the NOVA program "Super Bridge" to create a more comprehensive unit. "Super Bridge" tracks the work of engineers, construction crews, contractors, surveyors, and project managers as they build a bridge from ground up at Alton, Illinois. First, students investigated and explored the attributes of geometric shapes using an activity from PBS MATHLINE (www.pbs.org/teachers/math/). Wells, who has been teaching for 17 years, emphasizes hands-on, exploratory work with everyday objects and physical materials as a way to develop students' spatial sense and better prepare students to learn advanced mathematical topics. Students then viewed "Super Bridge" and identified the different geometric shapes and bridge styles such as truss, beam, and arch found in the bridges profiled. Learning that the bridge in Alton was located on the Mississippi River—which flows through New Orleans—inspired students to look closely at the bridges, highway overpasses, and new construction in and around their own city. Next, students built different models of towers and bridges. Using the NOVA Teacher's Guide Bridge Building lesson plan, students built towers that would support the most weight possible. To help students understand different types of bridges, Wells had students play the Build a Bridge game online (www.pbs.org/nova/bridge/). Then Wells created a second building activity in which students, working alone or in teams of two and three, designed and built a bridge that could hold the most weight possible, be visually attractive, and be economically feasible. Using straws, spaghetti noodles, and craft sticks and glue guns, students applied their previous knowledge about geometric shapes and experience in prior building activities to their task. Wells used students' writing to assess the extent to which students understood the concepts. Critical thinking and problem solving skills were emphasized as students worked to have their bridges support additional weight. If bridges weakened and failed, students then analyzed reasons for the failure. Wells also used this unit as an opportunity to expose students to career opportunities—she invited an engineer to visit the class and discuss her work with students.
To see the Web page that contains Wells' bridge-building activity,
visit:
http://www.geocities.com/algiersteacher/bridge.html
—Kristina Ransick
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