Posted on: Thursday, January 20, 2005
Pyramid is geometry lesson
By Treena Shapiro
Advertiser Education Writer
At Bishop Museum for the next few months, the public can see a high school geometry project of gigantic proportions — a 20-foot-high Sierpinski Pyramid.
Deborah Booker • The Honolulu Advertiser Those pyramids were arranged by fours to make larger pyramids, which also were grouped into fours for even bigger ones and on and on for six levels.
"The whole project takes about 700 man hours," Bromberg said. Students started working on it after Thanksgiving, doing a little work on it during every class. Yesterday they spent all day carrying the pieces to Bishop Museum and putting the pyramid together.
The project teaches students the national standards for geometry: congruency, symmetry, surface area, volume and what happens when you alter the sides. They learn fractal geometry, too, as well as teamwork and leadership.
Ron Loo, 15, said the project has been an effective way to learn the geometry theorems and formulas the students have been taught in class. "Usually when you do a project, you mess around, but this has to be real precise," he said.
The Sierpinski Pyramid will be part of Bishop Museum's "Nature's Numbers" exhibit, which along with "A Forest Journey," will be on display from Jan. 29 to May 8.
"Nature's Numbers" will feature several math exhibits, a Kiddie Kaleidoscope, a Tetrahedron Topple and other hands-on activities designed to help children discover the nature of math.
On Saturdays, students from Damien Memorial School will make presentations on how they built the Sierpinski Pyramid.
Call 847-3511 for more information. Kaione Mau, 15, agreed that the pyramid was a good addition to the curriculum. "It makes the class more interesting and easier to learn," he said.
John Pinpin, 15, said the project also taught students a lot about patience. After folding 4,096 tetrahedrons, students found that they had to remake several of them after arriving at the museum, since some were damaged during the short walk from school.
But those setbacks did not take away from the fun. "I'd rather do something like this (than book work)," he said. "The way I learn, I like it to be more hands on."
Brother Greg O'Donnell, president of the Catholic boys' school, said he thought the project was terrific. "Geometry is a tough subject to instill enthusiasm in, and what I'm looking at here is a bunch of enthusiastic kids."
Bromberg, 62, who was a Navy test pilot and aerospace executive before becoming a teacher four years ago, said he is probably the only teacher who has taken on this project twice. The first time was two years ago at Corona High School in California, after he read about the pyramid in a professional journal.
He also is helping Damien students build an electric car. "I love large-scale projects," he said.
Reach Treena Shapiro at tshapiro@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8014.
The painstaking pyramid construction required Jon Bromberg's Damien Memorial School geometry students to design the perfect pattern for a tetrahedron on paper, which they could cut out, fold and tape into little pyramids, 4,096 of them, plus extras to replace those that weren't perfect.
Damien Memorial School students have been working since late November on a hands-on geometry project, which required them to assemble 4,096 miniature paper pyramids into a 20-foot-high pyramid for display.
Unlike other class projects where students work independently, this project forced all students to contribute and everyone stayed focused on a central point, he said.
Nature's numbers
