Botman-- don't dispar-- you might have reached one or two students-- and given to them a lesson they will remember forever--
When i was in 7th grade-- our class was introduced to pi-- and told to just accept the number 3.1214.... but we where antsy kids and some of us (guess who?) just keep nagging and nagging--
So one morning we were promised, if behaved, then in the afternoon we could do a special project–
Just before we where dismissed for lunch-- we where given an assignment-- one half of the class was told to bring back something round-- a jar, a can, a pipe, a hoop (for a hoop skirt)-- the other half of the class was told to bring back to thread, or ribbon, or twine, or rope..
That afternoon, 78 girls measured (using ribbon or twine, and then a 12 inch ruler) an assorted collection of jars and cans (38 pairs)--the circumference and the diameter-- and divided. Our crude answers where then averaged-- and lo and behold-- we came up with pi!
Teachers who think of creative ways to teach– open children's imaginations...
It is almost 40 years since I learned pi– but the lesson is as fresh as yesterday.
If you can do for language, what Mother Theresa did for me and pi–you will live on in a students memory!
