Thomas Bartkus wrote: > "phil" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message > news:[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >>>About teaching in the exact sciences: I think we need a more hands-on >>>applied approach, to some extent this holds for the entire school >>>system. >> >>YES! As a geometry(& trig) teacher, I am going to have them build a >>shed, a kite, a sundial. I would love some doable ideas for hands >>on which would teach more principles without being major >>construction projects. >> > > Wow! How about a sextant? > Simple device really. And a great practical demonstration of trigonometry. > > It would be helpful of if your class was near the seashore. You would want a > clear shot at the horizon. > Thomas Bartkus > >
1. Even simpler device: an alidade is not a major construction project -- 2 nails and a piece of planed pine timber will do the job. If you want to venture into eat-your-heart-out territory, check out http://www.geometricum.com/Pic_of_Month_022004.htm Meanwhile, back in the real world, armed with an alidade and a home-made plane table, the kids can get some fresh air and make a map of the school grounds or a local park. And, as a different part of their education, you could suggest they research where English got all those interesting al- words from. 2. Lengths of twine with knots at strategic intervals e.g. (3,4,5), (5, 12, 13) will do for laying out rectangular fields (+ practical lesson -- which of these is less susceptible to error?); add a plumb-bob and you're building houses. 3. Another exercise involving fresh air, theory, and an understanding of the effect of errors of measurement: surveyor's traverse of the boundaries of the school grounds or the park, using a prismatic compass for the angles and their own paces [don't forget to ask them to research "mille passum"] or a pace-stick or a rod or a chain for the distance. Obligatory reference to newsgroup-related topic: possibly a Python script to do all those boring delta_x = paces * cos(delta_theta) etc calcs -- *after* they've done it manually of course. If they get a sign wrong and produce an endpoint that's in the next suburb, they might learn something and not go on to write aviation software that makes the aircraft flip upside down when it crosses the equator. Cheers, John -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
