Geodesic Dome Teaching Unit |
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This page is under construction from August 11.1997 until mid-October. Keep checking to see our progress! |
An integrated Math/Technology Activity by James J. Kirkwood Page last updated: November 25, 1997 |
Geodesic Dome Teaching Unit |
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This page is under construction from August 11.1997 until mid-October. Keep checking to see our progress! |
An integrated Math/Technology Activity by James J. Kirkwood Page last updated: November 25, 1997 |
What's this about?The Geodesic Dome unit is being taught to 80 undergraduate elementary education majors who are taking a course in technology education. The end product will be a people-sized dome which has endless potential for developing elementary school learning ativities. |
Is there a goal?The goal of the project is to immerse the students in the practical applications of math as applied to structures. Along the way they will learn methods of line production; will gain skills in creativity, tool use, cooperation, integration of subject matter; and will find ways of using it to teach others. |
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This dome structure was a 16' diameter, 2 frequency, alternate method, half sphere. |
Aren't domes boring and out-of date?Some people might call this activity somewhat "canned," because the outcome in terms of structures and math is pre-determined.I believe it is open-ended enough for all of us, including the college instructor, to be creative, to use problem-solving skills, to think critically, and to take ownership of many parts of the process. When we are all done, we will all have "our" unique dome to assemble, to decorate, to climb on, and perhaps to live in for a day or two. We'll trust that innovative ideas will come pouring forth because creative energy is an outcome of cooperative effort. There is still enough of the 1970's "Hippie" in me (picture long hair held back from my forehead with a band of beads) to be entralled by the geometry and the "feel" of the dome structure. Opposite,above, is a tentative model of the final product.As the instructor, I am excited by this project, and am anxiously awaiting classes to begin so that I can immerse a new group of students into the pleasures gained from cooperative, creative, energetic, hands-on learning! This summer my students and I assembled a dome kit prepared by Dr. Ray Shackelford. Those are some of my students assembling it in the classroom. It was 8' tall and just fit under the lights in our room. |
What have you done to prepare for them?Probably not enough of the right thing. After 32 years of college teaching (I started when I was 7, so you can see I'm only 39!) I've learned to prepare more than I can teach. But I've also learned I should have prepared somewhat different materials (or learned new jokes!). It's inevitable that the unit will go off in directions I haven't anticipated--all of my teaching goes that way. I think that is the fun of teaching and learning, and I've been amply rewarded for that kind of creative thinking.But to answer the question, I've prepared a number of pages of activities that teach about structures, shapes, math, and dome design. (See the index below.) I've found some plastic dowel rod connectors and 3/16" dowel rods of particular lengths that can be used to form lots of geometric shapes, including a few domes. Here's a dome I designed and built Sunday, August 10. It is a 36" diameter, three-frequency, alternate, 5/8 sphere, geodesic dome. I used a math formula to arrive at the three different length dowel rods (they are colored red, green and blue, but you can't tell the green from the blue on these pictures, especially if you are male). I used three different colors of connectors to differentiate their functions. It is 22" high and is similar in design and color to the people-sized dome I anticipate my students will design and build. The above photo of the the model is in my department chair's office. I was trying to convince him that I need about $300 to build "the real thing." In the photos to the right, the background is a pleasant garden of grasses and plants right outside the newly-named APPLIED TECHNOLOGY building on the Ball State campus. It looks nice there, don't you think? Sort of like an earth explorer sent from another planet. |
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