Monday, April 25, 2011



This week is the culmination of the "truism" unit, a cross-curricular learning experience that branches between science, English, social studies, math, and art. The truism that we have focused on, written above, reflects one great mind in history acknowledging that he was only able to do the things he did due to the work of people that came before him. I imagine that as you write your hero essays you are also discovering that those people were highly influenced by people that came before them.

Beth and I have been talking to you in class about the mathematical concept known as the parabola, which is a geometric shape. Parabolas are pretty simple things when you look at them on a piece of paper, as when we graphed the swing of the pendulum. However, parabolas can also lead to amazing inventions (like the massive radio dish in the picture above) and when you look for them you can find them all around you, occurring naturally in the world.

The video below was the inspiration behind the lab we did and it also shows examples of parabolas in nature.


1. Go to the following website about solar cookers: Solar Cookers

2. On a piece of paper (to be turned in) design your own solar cooker.

3. List 5-10 parabolas that you noticed today (post these on the blog).