Monday, May 4, 2009

The Golden Ratio and Sketchup

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?

1 comment:

Shelley Owen said...

Wow! Your students are so lucky to have you as their teacher. I'm sure they are very excited to learn these new technology applications and apply them to what they are learning in the classroom. I'll bet their understanding of the concepts and their grades have gone WAY up! Great job and wonderful Blog!!