Model mathematics
Posted On: Thursday, Jul. 29 2010 11:09 PM
By Jackie Stone
Killeen Daily HeraldAs judges wandered around a classroom at Central Texas College and quizzed students Thursday afternoon, Harker Heights High School student Devon Rooks and his teammates made last-minute adjustments to their model roller coaster, "The Anaconda."
The group's coaster was almost perfect — just barely lacking the momentum from the first steep drop for the car on the tracks to make it around the long winding track to the moving belt that pulled it back up the initial incline.
Fortunately, team members said, the problem was just the model, not their mathematical calculations and planning.
Unfortunately for Rook, he said he had already taken the algebra 2 class that many of his peers were preparing for in the Math and Science Camp course.
"If I'd had this last year, I would have had a lot of 100s," the 16-year-old said.
The class was one of several three-week courses in a summer Math and Science Camp at CTC, ending today, that gave Killeen and Copperas Cove middle and high school students hands-on applications of concepts and skills they will need as they start math and science courses next year.
On Thursday, the students were judged on their final projects — in Rook's case a roller coaster knowledge and amusement-park-applications of math, physics and physiology.
The class of 42 students was taught by Barton Jacques, a Harker Heights High School biology teacher. He taught students about the algebra and geometry of design, the physics of momentum and inertia, the marketing of an advertising campaign and the physiology of riding an amusement park ride — important concepts in roller coasters and high school classes.
During the school year, Jacques said, teachers have 55 minutes to explain a concept. In the summer camp, each class had four hours to learn a concept and then apply it.
Many of the kids came because their parents put them in the camp, said Kathy Eversoll, the class' substitute teacher and a Killeen Independent School District math teacher. Several students started with the idea that they didn't like math and science.
"But because this is such a hands-on camp, they've said, 'Maybe I could be into math or science.' It gives them some success in an area they might not have had success in before," she said.
Students in the camp graduate today.
Contact Jackie Stone at
jstone@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7548.Follow her on Twitter at KDHcityeditor.