Peter Navratil
Special to the Tribune/Advisor
Students attending Lake City Secondary School were gifted with an early Christmas activity Thursday when they were asked to apply math formulas to building a gingerbread house.
Caroline Chupa’s Grade 11 math class was given gingerbread houses to be used as a practical application of the geometry lessons being taught in the class.
Using the hands on approach students are encouraged to apply relevant lessons to their classes.
The math class had to find the volume for all the candy each group of students were choosing to place on their gingerbread house. After these numbers were established, the entire surface area of the house had to be found. After the math was done the students could begin construction.
The Christmas-themed lesson took place partly as a result of the government’s project based learning initiative.
The idea is to “change the curriculum so whatever the students are working on will be applied to everyday life,” says Janet Keener of Lake City Secondary School. The initiative “gives a tactile base to work off of ... and makes learning fun.”
Chupa, who teaches at LCSS, has long been using these hands on learning tactics, but for this lesson she had help.
Safeway, Save-On-Foods, and Walmart all donated gingerbread houses to the class for the project.
Students said they enjoyed the project and the Christmas spirit it brought into the school, adding it was a good way to teach.
Peter Navratil is a second year journalism student at Thompson Rivers University Kamloops home visiting Williams Lake for the Christmas break.