Dunannie Pupils Learn Maths through Sculpture
About Bedales
Dunannie Pupils Learn Maths through Sculpture
02/11/2010
Pupils from Dunannie, Bedales Prep-Prep School, enjoyed an unusual day of Maths before the half-term break, learning through the art of sculpture rather than times tables and arithmetic.
Dunannie invited ceramicist and sculptor, Richard Gibson, to demonstrate the number sequence known as Fibonacci to Year 3 children through the art of sculpture. Richard did this by using the patterns in the Fibonacci number sequence to trace interesting shapes such as the spiral. The children had fun converting the shapes found in number patterns into clay models.
Commenting on the day, Jo Webbern, Head of Dunannie, said: “This was such a wonderful teaching concept that worked well from Reception right through to Year 3. The children enjoyed it immensely and found it a lot easier to grasp the concept of number sequences because they were learning through doing.”
In the same week, Dunannie’s Year 3 class returned to the HEFT Exhibition at the Winchester Discovery Centre. In September the children were invited to touch and feel the exhibits in the Gallery’s ‘Heft: Weight and Touch Contemporary Sculpture’.
The children were filmed by the centre lifting objects that, at first glance, looked very heavy but in fact were very light because of the materials used. Exhibits that resembled stone were actually made of paper and an item that looked like a polystyrene cup was incredibly heavy because it was made from bronze. The films now feature as part of the exhibition to help visitors understand that the exhibits challenge preconceptions of what is heavy and what is light.
Commenting on the HEFT Exhibition, Jo Webbern said: “The children were fascinated to see themselves on screen as part of the exhibition. It was a great way for them to learn about density and both of these lessons prove that Maths can be inspiring and fun.”
