In 2023, I was picked to be part of a ReMake Learning Moonshot Grant jointly written by IU1 and Pittsburgh Center for Arts and Media. This page discusses the second of three projects I undertook as part of this grant. For more detail, please check out the page about my collaboration at West Greene Elementary Center during the 2022-2023 school year first.
In the next 2023-2024 school year, we convened again at IU1’s Wayneburg Fab Lab with teachers from the remaining three Greene County School Districts. I partnered with Carrie Ricco, 2nd grade and STEM teacher from Jefferson-Morgan Elementary School and Kathy Hillsman (5th grade math) and Crystal Pratt (5th grade science) from Carmichaels Area Elementary Center. (I’ll cover CAEC in the next post.) With both projects occuring simultaneously and in the month before winter break, Rebecca Reeb had the brilliant idea to use snowflakes to explore symmetry and as a means to learn how to teach the students to use CorelDRAW. The students:
Created collaged paper snowflakes to learn about symmetry. We learned that a hexagonal water molecule is at the center of every snowflake, with unique branches forming from the angles of the hexagon.
Used CorelDRAW to create quadrants that enabled students’ designs to be flipped and mirrored. Rebecca marvelously scaffolded the complicated design steps into discreet steps, but there was still a bit of a learning curve for the fifth grade students. We spread the designing over multiple days to allow for experimentation and troubleshooting.
Used the mobile Fab Lab laser cutter setup to cut the snowflakes from acrylic and wood.
Added copper wire and beads to create hanging masterpieces that were installed in the school’s front display cases, just in time for the annual school holiday concert.
