Okay, imagine you’re a kid again and you have to get up early to go to school.
Yech!
First class is math.
Double yech!
The rest of the school day will be more math, as well as science.
Ugh!
But then you see the first assignment on the chalkboard: Make a paper airplane and see how far it will fly.
Wow! Cool! What’s next?
Spitballs?
No. But the assignment does involve a toy Slinky.
Welcome to the math and science “trail” at Texas Christian University, where on March 9 and March 11 a total of 240 students from Fort Worth elementary schools learned some math and science, while at the same time having fun.
A great believer of finding new, innovative ways to bring knowledge to children, Chesapeake Energy for the past three years has funded this fun-and-frolic learning experience, working with the Fort Worth Independent School District and the Andrews Institute of Mathematics, Science & Technology Education at TCU.
“Thank you so much, Chesapeake, for your generosity. We couldn’t do it without you,” said Molly Weinburgh, director of the College of Education at TCU.
The learning stations along the trail were developed by TCU students who are majoring in elementary education, using the requirements spelled out by the Texas Education Agency’s Essential Knowledge and Skills guidelines for 5th-graders.
“It’s an awesome program,” said Julie Cameron, a math coach at Westpark Elementary School.
The kids used paper airplanes to compare their “hang time” in the air to the distance they traveled. They discovered the unique movements of pushing a Slinky down a flight of stairs. And they learned something (this writer missed this class) by comparing their shoe sizes to that of professional basketball stars Dirk Nowitzki and Shaquille O’Neal.
In the paper airplane-making class, it was a rockin’ good time.
“I’m learning different things about math,” said Damien James, 10, a 5th-grader at Rufino Mendoza Elementary School who sailed his plane 30 feet, 3 inches. “This is fun,” he said.
When it became Summer Gouard’s turn, the 5th-grader at Benbrook Elementary School cocked her arm back, then let go of her attempt at an airship. It looped backwards, out of sight, and then made a small recovery, dropping 2 feet, 9 inches from the 11-year-old girl’s feet.
“I’ve never made a paper airplane in my life,” Summer explained. “I’m the worst airplane maker.” And then Summer thought about it for a moment, smiled, and said, “I’ll keep practicing at it.”