The Holley Middle School/High School Geometry in Construction class spent May 26, May 31, and June 1 at Homesteads for Hope (H4H) in Ogden, installing the classroom barn they built for the inclusive community farm.
Math teacher Russ Albright and technology teacher Dylan Sharpe co-teach Geometry in Construction, with students rotating between math days and building days each week. There are 19 students in this year’s class, with the majority in 10th grade. The class helps students learn how math concepts can be applied to real-world problems to create solutions. Students combined their math and construction skills to build a 16’ x 32’ classroom barn for H4H this year.
In the fall, students went on a fieldtrip to the H4H farm so they could better understand how this organization operates and where the barn would be placed on the property. Building this additional classroom space enables H4H to expand its Social Garden Program, summer camps, and field trips. H4H is a non-profit community farm that is all-inclusive and provides a place where young adults of all abilities can learn, work, live, and grow.
Students planned for the project by working on a scale model of the barn. The barn was staged on a specially built platform at school before it was dismantled and transported to H4H to be installed permanently. This is the third barn that Holley students have built on the H4H property in the last few years.
The skills students learn in this class will be carried with them beyond high school to be used in future jobs or to make home repairs. “Students enjoy this class because they can see the real-world application of math,” said Albright. “Many students who don’t traditionally perform well in math class are performing much better in this class.” The scores from previous years’ Regents Exams continue to show that Geometry in Construction students score better than traditional geometry class students. Regardless of how students perform on any Geometry test, they leave class feeling proud of completing a community service project that helps others.
Provided information
