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From left, Xavier Savannah, Journie Barbour, Taylor Mabry and Austin Parker examine Mexican food they prepared Wednesday as part of the “Math in Everyday Life” camp for middle school students, sponsored by the New College Institute. (Bulletin photo by Mickey Powell) |
Friday, June 12, 2009
By MICKEY POWELL - Bulletin Staff Writer
Mathematics is fun to learn when it is applied to everyday life, some local middle school students said they are finding out this week.
“It’s not all paperwork” and teachers lecturing to classes, said Taylor Mabry, a rising seventh-grader at Fieldale-Collinsville Middle School and the daughter of Hilda and Shannon Mabry.
Mabry is one of 16 students participating in “Math in Everyday Life,” a summer camp sponsored by the New College Institute (NCI) with help from Patrick Henry Community College (PHCC) and the Martinsville Henry County Coalition for Health and Wellness.
The camp is designed to show students how math is used in everyday tasks, from following recipes to creating art projects to exercising, according to NCI Outreach Educator Steve Keyser.
“Lots of kids have roadblocks to math,” said Keyser. “They don’t see the relevance of it, so we wanted to make it fun for them.”
Students were split into two groups on Tuesday and Wednesday. Each day, one group used stained glass to make kaleidoscopes — devices that people look through to see changing colored designs — while the other group prepared lunch for all of the campers.
In making the kaleidoscopes, students learned math concepts such as how to put together triangles and other geometric shapes and figuring costs for the materials, said Joanna Keyser, a Carlisle School math teacher who is assisting with the camp.
Mabry said it was interesting to see materials being melted under high heat to make the kaleidoscopes.
Wednesday’s meal consisted of two Mexican fajitas and quesadillas and homemade cookies.
While making lunch, students and instructors talked about how fractions are used in measuring, how to use a measuring cup, and times and temperatures used in cooking certain foods, according to Joanna Keyser.
“Some of them had never cooked before,” she said.
Xavier Savannah, a rising seventh-grader at Martinsville Middle School, said he found cooking to be easy.
But the most fun part of cooking is that “we get to eat” what is prepared, said Savannah, the son of Sean and Felicia Rupert.
Ben Bowman, coordinator of work force development at PHCC, said children can be picky eaters, so he was impressed that the students were willing to eat whatever they prepared.
Monday, the students took a walk and used pedometers to measure how many steps they had taken. They used their math skills to figure out how many steps are in a mile, Steve Keyser said.
“It’s not completely all math” that the students are learning, said Journie Barbour, a rising Carlisle seventh-grader and the daughter of Rewa and Jim Barbour. They are learning good health habits, too, she said.
Steve Keyser said that Thursday, the students used math to develop sewing skills and make a pillow. Today, they will go to Philpott Dam and learn about how math is involved in producing hydroelectric power, he said.
Bowman reasoned that the more that students can see how math is used in everyday life, the more they will want to learn math skills.
“I just wish I had been able to have this type of experience” while growing up, he said of the camp.
Joanna Keyser said she already has heard some of the students say they want to attend next year’s math camp. |
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