LOYALTON – When am I ever going to put this to practical use?
Students at Upper Dauphin Area Middle School (UDAMS) have a solid answer to that age-old question on learning.
As part of the “Real World Math Course” eighth-grade students have made improvements to the school’s existing courtyard, using their creativity, math and technology skills to spruce up their learning environment.
“I liked going outside and making what we planned on doing possible,” Bailey Maurer, a member of “The Constructioners” winning team, said. “The rendering of the site was probably the most difficult to do, because I had never done anything like that before,” said Maurer, of Spring Glen.
Teams of students were presented with a real-life challenge. Principal Michael Sim portrayed a potential customer, who indicated that he needed some help with the landscaping and re-design of the courtyard.
Students were tasked with the job of calculating the perimeter, area, and volume; the cubic feet of flower beds and how many yards of mulch would be required to fill each bed. Teams had to determine where to purchase the mulch, after acquiring quotes from local businesses.
They did a scale drawing of the plot on graph paper, designed a computerized rendering of their idea using Google SketchUp, and then presented their ideas and developmental drawings to district staff and administrators.
The final part of the 11-week project was to select a winning presentation and then have the students actually install the design in the courtyard, based on their calculations, and under the guidance of Technology Education Instructor Blake Dutweiler and Computer Instructor Dan Frake, who co-taught the class. This is the first year for the course, which was created to challenge eighth-grade pupils who scored well on their standardized tests and other benchmark data in the classroom.
Joining Bailey Maurer on the winning team were Ryan Strohecker and Jeff Klinger. “All three of us are good in math, our calculations were correct, and we had some good ideas,” said Maurer, when asked why his team’s design was selected. Other teams were: “The Trojans Landscaping,” “The Wild Flowers,” “The Mighty Morphan Flower Arrangers,” “Mulching Monkeys,” and “The Time Breakers”. Elements from several of the teams were incorporated into one, winning final design, which Maurer put together for the final computerized rendering.
Then, the class put their plans into action and began the actual upgrades.
“I like being outside and playing in the dirt,” said Morgan Maurer, of Elizabethville. (No relation to Bailey.) “I like to do ‘guy’ things and I’d rather be out than sit inside,” she said. As a member of the Mighty Morphan Flower Arrangers team, Morgan Maurer said doing all of the math calculations was the toughest part of the course. She was the only team member, according to her instructors, that was confident enough to use the power edger while making the necessary improvements at the site.
“Instead of just talking about it, I liked that we actually got to do it ourselves,” she said.
Another classmate, Brittany Kinney, of Elizabethville, thought the effort to do the calculations and proper pre-planning was well worth it. “It’s a lot neater and cleaner now,” she said.
Keegan Kerstetter, meanwhile, thought figuring out the patterns and doing the rendering was the most challenging aspect of the course. “Finishing it up and putting the final touches on the courtyard, and deciding what type of plants that we’d use was my favorite part,” said Kerstetter, of Elizabethville.
Strohecker could see the practical uses of the course.
“I think it can help you in the future. One day when you have your own home, you can figure this out for yourself,” said Strohecker, of Spring Glen.
Some of the improvements made at the site included: adding walkway stones leading to a bridge in the center; power-washing and clean-coating wooden picnic tables there; re-designing the layout and including spaces for mulched flower beds, bird feeders, and a maple tree. Staff members donated items for the class, and also held dress-down “jeans” days to help raise funds for the improvements, which students had estimated to cost around $600.
“Once they got the hang of things, it went well,” said Frake. “From the start to the end of the project, they’ve enjoyed it and want to do more of this. They’ve executed it very well.”
“I was extremely surprised with how it turned out,” Dutweiler added. “There were limited items that needed to be fixed and their work ethic was ten times harder, I think, knowing that this (courtyard) will be here when they move on to the high school,” he said.
Another rotation of eighth-graders will be making similar improvements to the front of the school building grounds, Sim said.
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