Sophomore Students Begin Discovering Geometry is Related to Farming and Gardening Sophomore students at Clemente have been exploring Geometry related to sustainable food options such as farming and gardening.
They have been applying the concepts of area, perimeter, Pythagorean Theorem and Distance Formula to real-world situation in order to gain a broader perspective of where food comes from.
Students realized all of the difficult decisions of a farmer as they spent two days designing their own farms. To make the farms more realistic, students were given a set of restraints and given the goal of maximizing the profit of their farms. Students were limited on the number of units of fencing they could use for animals, and money was deducted for each unit of open land. They faced the challenges of ‘Should I have milk or meat cows?” and “Should I cage my chickens or let them be free range?” Each animal or crop had a different value, and the winning farm was worth over $7,000!
Students also recently learned the Pythagorean theorem and the Distance Formula, and applied their knowledge to calculating distance from a students house to different sources of food. Classes discussed food desserts, and saw that in many Chicago neighborhoods, it is very difficult to access fresh foods. They also calculated public transportation costs to arrive at convenience stores v. grocery stores v. farmers markets.
Sophomore students will continue to explore Geometry concepts related to sustainable food options for the next several weeks.
