In 5th grade, students learn about ratios and fractions, so it's a meaningful entry point into the wonders of the Golden Ratio and it's application in ancient Greek architecture.
I'm using this presentation for the Sketchup lesson, if you're curious how we're including the golden ratio, skip ahead to slide 14!
So when I put the first slide up (the close up of the sunflower seeds) I asked what the students to guess what it was. Answers, from these city kids, varied "pineapple, a pine comb, wood." The interesting part is that the guesses, pineapple and pine comb, are both natural items that also follow the golden ratio. Is it possible that sub conciously they see the same patterns?
