Kite Unit 2 Implications

The kite project was the most difficult one for students to grasp. To begin, students expressed discontent with science and math interdisciplinary learning in the classroom even though they saw the connection. They felt that the class and project itself already had two subjects, Art and Geography, and did not need to be overwhelmed with other content areas. It could be that students are not used to being actively engaged in multiple other academics in their previous classes, or it was never clearly pointed out where subjects can cross paths with one another. Their comments also suggest that I need to scale back on interdisciplinary learning during their first two months of high school.

Interdisciplinary education took place through the teaching of Physics concept and math calculations. Area and surface area were taught in middle school but it took two class periods to review this concept and how it relates to the Tetrahedral Kite. After the first day of focusing on math, we thought it may be more helpful to have students teach their peers as they stood in front

of class and became one of us, teachers. Figure 20 illustrates one student who felt comfortable with the math content and acted as a teacher by solving problems, asking questions, and verbally

Figure 20 Peer Teaching

explained his math process. I felt that having students teach their peers, they were able to connect and learn interactively and more efficiently than I had done with them on day one. In the future, I definitely plan to have more peer-teachers for any content that students seem to struggle with, particularly with content outside of my field or specialty. Moreover, I was able to walk around to identify and answer questions that students had much quicker than when I was up front teaching. Selection of materials was not received very well by students. There were a few students who worked too fast or drew too hard with the sharpie and ripped their tissue paper. However, this was not a large concern since clear tape was readily available to remedy the problem. The main issue that students had was how the material slowed down their progress since extra

attention and time was required whilst drawing on tissue paper. Students did understand why tissue paper was needed – weight affected aerodynamics of the kite. Students also used plastic bags but did not like the elasticity of the bag either. The majority if not all student preferred the tissue paper over the plastic bag. When asked if there were any other lightweight materials that we can use for the project, students were not able to propose one. Likewise, I hope to experiment with more materials that are lightweight and test it out before implementing this project again.

Although students posed no questions about different forms for the kite, I would like to have my next class experiment with this option. Rather than a tetrahedral, can any other polygon allow the kite to maintain or even be more aerodynamically sound? What shape best supports the function of a kite? In doing so, students will also have to take ownership of their learning as they solve for area and surface area to obtain enough materials to cover the kite. In addition, rather than providing all the materials to students up front, perhaps having the students research and select materials they think might perform the best would be a better idea moving forward.

Concepts in Physics continued to be a lingering struggle for students. Although data showed student growth, there was little increase. The concept of kite aerodynamics was confusing for students and I could have done a better job putting students into small groups to check for comprehension. I also could have presented students with a short video clip to visually show how weight, gravity, lift, and drag each have an effect on kite aerodynamics. Also, we were never able to test the kites as a class due to inclement weather. It was extremely cold and almost zero wind during the timeframe set aside for testing. Luckily, I was able to test the prototype and final kite myself during an outside session which had a fair amount of wind to create enough lift for my kite. I did take both class’ tetrahedral kites to participate in the Atlanta Kite Festival where outside temperatures were frigid to say the least. Additionally, it had rained

the day before, and that also had an effect on the kites made out of tissue paper. Although it was cold, the day was also windy and allowed me to test out the kite. A few of my students even made it out to the kite festival and saw our kite take flight in the sky. The largest kite I had consisted of roughly 35 tetrahedrons, but it was still considerably light. Despite being light, it required strong winds. At one point, a gust of wind snapped one of the kites and it tumbled across the field at Piedmont Park. Luckily, it did not go too far due to its tetrahedral shape. I received quite a few compliments regarding uniqueness, artwork, and functionality of the kite. I plan to do this project again but will use another theme or topic, rather than physical geography.

As suggested by many students, art production took up the majority of this unit. Likewise, I can see how student felt Art overpowered Geography and suggested more social studies content be taught next time. The data provided in Table 3 supports their concern since the assessment also indicates more time needed to be spent on teaching content rather than build. In the future, my co-teacher and I will need to balance both content so that students do not feel one overpowers another. On the other hand, I was satisfied to see a 28.8% increase in art history over the course of this unit. It is also rewarding to see that students still maintain the elements and principles of art even though it was not taught as a priority for this unit.

Overall, I think students felt this project had too much interdisciplinary and was

overwhelmed. Some students did not finished their tetrahedron in time to contribute to the final tetrahedral kite. I think the kite project may be better implemented as a beginning project to learn about the elements and principles of design. I also think this project would fit great to in a

Physics or Geometry class. Because of the interdisciplinary that occurred in this unit, I went through a learning process as well. I had to review the information prior to teaching my students and it was a humbling experience. The educational experience that math and science provided,

along with lesson planning for the GAGA class were cumbersome but completely worth it. I struggled through my learning experience and used that to simplify the process to avoid similar conflicts for my students.