HEArts Math 2020

So excited to be kicking off an integrated math and art experience for students today with our art teacher, Erin Cameron! The amazing art created by buddy classes during these math/art sessions will decorate Heathcote's hallways for our annual Heathcote Art and Poetry Festival in April.

Erin and I worked together to organize creative and engaging art experiences for students that incorporate math as a central feature.


Before the February break, 5Robert made these beautiful icosahedra.

As we worked we discussed the significance of the icosahedron as a shape and marveled at how 20 flat, 2D circles could be folded into equilateral triangles, and glued together to make an icosahedron.

So many interesting observations and questions grew out of our work!

• Can we use any triangle? Isosceles? Scalene?
• Why is the shape so sturdy? What is it about triangles that make them so good for building?
• What other shapes can be made from triangles? 
• Where or when are icosahedra used?

Students had so much fun learning and making these! They were enthralled by everything from selecting their circle patterns and deciding their placement, to contemplating the geometry.

Here are some more photos of 5th graders and 2nd graders working on creating spirolaterals, a repeated number pattern depicted with lines and ninety-degree turns.

     


You can find all of these great lessons on the Teacher Resource page of my blog.