This display shows a report, some of the Platonic solids, stellated polyhedra, and two commercial geodesic domes assembled by students. When they begin to assemble their Origami models it often looks like a lost cause, but the final projects usually turn out great!
In the spring, Mrs. Zahumeny's geometry classes combine their artistic and mathematical abilities through a creative math project: the students use colored paper and straws to construct polyhedra (solid figures with many faces). Among the most popular of the various shapes created by the students are cubes, tetrahedra (polyhedra with four triangular faces), stellated polyhedra, and the icosahedra (a polyhedra with twenty triangular faces).
One year, as the geometry students were learning about polyhedra by constructing them, Ms. Kelly's ninth grade Honors Science class was studying about the structure and effects of viruses. The students learned that one of the main shapes of viruses is the icosahedron. Here boomed the perfect opportunity for the math and science classes to collaborate, interdepartmental connections and cooperation has long been an educational goal.
Elaine McCauley, a student who had Honors Geometry Mrs. Zahumeny and Honors Science with Ms. Kelly suggested that the science class use the shapes created in her Honors Geometry class to help learn about the structure of viruses. Ms. Kelly used the models constructed by Neha Jikaria and Christine Guercio, as she taught the lesson about viruses. This is only one example of how math and science are perfect together!