Most houses today are built out of brick, wood, steel and other materials, however a recent article points out how there is always alternative ways to construction. Pittsburg State University students are using natural materials to build a project home on campus. Construction includes walls made of straw bales and built up with rebar and dowel rod providing further support. The "house" will have a door, a window, and eventually a roof.
There is a reason for the use of straw bales in construction - a typical home has an r-value (insulation factor) of 30. A properly built straw-bale house can have an r-value of roughly 48.
Straw bale structure built by Pittsburg State University students broadcast.
Want to incorporate the straw-bale house curriculum in your classroom but limited on space, try our scaled down version of the Straw-Bale House Kit.
Our fourth and final Drafting & Supplies catalog for the 2009 year is printed and shipped. This catalog completes the 40th year of Hearlihy.
When you get your copy, make sure you check out the cover and then read about the amazing student who created it for us on the front-inside cover. Leave us a comment and let us know what you think of the cover or tell us about an amazing student you have.
The back-inside cover displays our fund-raising opportunity for your schools with our screen printing program. The rest of the catalog is filled with new and best seller items. To request a catalog, please visit hearlihy.com/catalogrequest.
We appreciate you, our customers, and thank you for 40 great years.
Email blast hint: What other company has the desire to provide innovative classroom activities?
In the October newsletter of the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, a message from the NCTM president was included. His statement is an important one and this message does not just apply to Mathematics. He explains that having students make connections, by either applying what they’ve already learned to understand something new, including situations from daily life or other areas of interest, or using hands-on approaches and activities, makes a significant impact in the student’s ability to learn, understand and remember the concept and idea. Below is his message:
by NCTM President Henry (Hank) KepnerNCTM Summing Up, October 2009
Mathematics is an integrated field of study with dynamic connections across many perspectives and to a wide range of human endeavors. Although at times we focus our instruction on a narrow area of mathematics to develop our students’ skills and understanding of concepts, I call on you to ensure that students expect to make connections between the mathematics—and the math-related contexts—that they are currently encountering and those that they have already experienced. Students should expect to make connections and capitalize on them, using insights gained in one mathematical context to investigate conjectures in another.
When students connect mathematical ideas, their understanding becomes deeper and more lasting, and learners come to view mathematics as a coherent whole—connected with other subjects and their own interests and experiences. Through instruction that emphasizes the interrelatedness of mathematical ideas, students not only learn mathematics but also discover its utility. What role do connections play in developing your students’ insights about and understanding of mathematics and its use? My challenge to you is to make sure that connections play an essential role in your students’ learning!
The following examples illustrate how we might help our students understand the interconnectedness of mathematical ideas and other aspects of their lives.
The area model is the preeminent model for the multiplication of whole numbers. For children beginning to think about the product of 3 x 4, for example, placing and counting unit squares inside a rectangle with dimensions 3 centimeters by 4 centimeters is foundational. This geometric representation later leads students to understand multi-digit multiplication in the partial products algorithm, which extends to fraction and polynomial multiplication, at least through degree 2. This is a powerful mathematical process for making sense of the often-meaningless FOIL (first, outer, inner, last) multiplication rule in algebra.
Developing a geometric perspective and justification of the Pythagorean theorem through paper folding and other perspectives builds a foundation for the distance formula (in both 2- and 3-D). I challenge you to prepare your students for distance thinking through work with Pythagorean relations. We shouldn’t have our students memorize the often confusing distance formulae but instead understand the concepts. What do you do in your instruction to emphasize the interrelatedness of mathematical ideas and their social and practical value?
A pivotal concept in algebra and calculus is rate of change. In learning about linear relations, students often encounter slope in algebraic formulae such as (y2 – y1)/(x2 – x1), totally missing the geometric representation of slope as conceptualized and justified through similar triangle relationships. What do you do in your instruction to emphasize the interrelatedness of mathematical ideas?
Middle school students might collect and graph data for the circumference (C) and the diameter (d) of a set of different-sized circles. They could extend their previous knowledge of algebra and data analysis by recognizing that the values nearly form a straight line, so C/d is between 3.1 and 3.2—a rough estimation of pi. How do you create classroom experiences that value and build on the connections between mathematics and students’ knowledge, experiences, and interests?
The graphs of functions—particularly graphs created with dynamic graphing utilities—allow students to search for and investigate approximate simultaneous solutions of two functions. Such work with graphs is especially useful in cases where students’ algebraic solution techniques are inadequate (e.g., f(x) = x and g(x) = sin x).
Students should connect mathematical concepts to their daily lives, as well as to applications from the sciences, social sciences, literature, business and the arts. Moreover, rich mathematical problems enable students to recognize the value of mathematics in examining personal, cultural, and social issues.
Have we prepared our students to ask, “Will mathematical analysis of the question that I am studying help me with my response?” Students who understand the usefulness of connections will know that this is a valuable question to ask.
To view more messages from Mr. Kepner please visit: http://www.nctm.org/about/content.aspx?id=14989
The buzz this week in education has been about shorter summers and longer school days. The main question that I have is: what would schools do with a longer day? The extra time could be utilized several different ways.
For students who need more time in a certain topic, it would be beneficial to either add more minutes to each class or provide a free class at the end of the day to allow each student more time in a certain area.
Maybe the extra time could be used to beef up classes that currently don’t receive a large time frame or time at all, such as science in elementary schools or adding engineering classes to middle and high schools.
If school days were extended, would this mean that the students would have time to complete their homework at school and thus free up family time at home? Would they be given a wider variety of classes to choose from? Would they have longer time in between classes or longer lunch hours?
For athletic, music, and scholar programs, will the practices for these organizations be held after a longer day or will the students be given an option to attend their team practice for the last class of the day?
I just came from my second grader's teacher conference. Because he needs additional time to help him with his reading, he has to miss out on spelling and writing with the rest of his class, because there is not enough time in the day for him to do both.
Would longer days benefit you? What would you like to see schools do if they had longer days?
Stories related to this topic:Extended School Year Would Have Dire Economic Effects, Critics SayObama Pushes for Longer School YearMore School: Obama Would Curtail Summer Vacation