Lesson Two: The Shape of Things
The introduction of a piece of honeycomb as a natural pattern in nature directs the MathTek kids to an investigation of bees and the recognition of many different shapes in nature such as hexagons, squares, cubes, spheres, etc. Alex, one of the older MathTek children, explains to the others that his grandfather keeps bees and asks the children if they would like to watch a videotape of himself and his grandfather caring for the beehives.
A craft project using construction paper and clay leads to the discovery of similarities and differences between two and three dimensional shapes. Alex introduces the others to a digital camera and Ms. Davis, the librarian and facilitator of the Nature Discoveries group, shows the children how to transfer pictures from the digital camera to the computer desktop.
Lesson 2 Video: Geometry
