Castles in the Classroom

By: Dana Schneider and Maddie Brandel

Classroom 2.0 is an interactive area located in the Exhibit Hall focusing on select lessons using up-to-date technology. In this lesson called Math and the Middle Ages, the participants first built small-scale castles out of Legos. They then learned how to create a 3-D representation of the castle they just built, using an app called 3-D Tin. When the participants pull up the app, they choose the shape to accommodate the castle and enter the dimensions. In the lesson they displayed, the castle was supposed to have an area greater than 800 meters and less than 225,000 meters. The perimeter was then to be greater than 1,000 meters, but it was not to exceed 3,000 meters.

This type of activity would be fantastic for the middle school classroom because it is hands-on and has the perfect degree of difficulty. It would cause the students' synapses to fire, without them getting frustrated beyond function. Plus, the materials are inexpensive enough to do this activity several times throughout the year as a good refresher for finding area, perimeter, ratios, and calculating dimensions. Students are sure to click with the technology; by the end of the day, they might show the teacher a thing or two about computer programs.