Number of students directly affected: 100
Partners: John Muir High School; Art Center College
of Design; California Institute of Technology; and the Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.
Dimensions offers 100 ninth graders attending John Muir
High School an opportunity to combine their interest in
art and design with the study of core academic subjects
in a unique school within a school. Students learn mathematics
through hands-on, design-based projects developed by a team
of high school teachers working with staff from the Art
Center College of Design, California Institute of Technology,
and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
This year, students took part in a design competition -
tower-building and bridge-building -- that required using
mathematical concepts. An egg-drop event, where students
had to design a container that would protect an egg from
breaking when dropped from the top of a building, was also
included. The project taught students how to use the slope
of the tangent to the curve to predict velocity at a given
time. students also learned how to meet design parameters
with this project.
The lightest, most beautiful, best-crafted containers that
succeeded in protecting the egg received special awards.
A long-term group project -- designing and building a scale
model dream home -- taught students how to calculate area
and perimeter formulas, as well as spreadsheet budgeting,
floor plan and scale plan development, and ways of measuring
the effects of climate on the dream home.
Three field trips to the Art Center College of Design capitalized
on student's interest in art and gave them a direct link
to their math-oriented design projects. The Art Center also
provided scholarships for some of the CAPP students to the
prestigious Saturday School of the Arts Program.
Students experienced math in the workplace when they took
a field trip to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, observed
the space craft assembly area and the space craft flight
operation center. They toured the CAD/CAM facility to see
and talk to designers at work.
Dimension introduced a Homework Assistance Program this
year. Volunteer tutors from California Institute of Technology
and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory met with students three
nights a week. The Homework Assistance Program took place
in two local libraries. Positive relationships developed
between the students who used the program and the volunteers
who worked with them.
