Hands-on high school geometry projects - ideas?

[ncpncp]

Hi, I'm trying to devise a few projects that put geometry in context for my high schoolers. I know of some tried & true projects: house floor plans, buildling models, etc. and have scouted around some. In particular, I'm looking for themes/contexts that match my kids' interests and give them something hands-on to do. Has anyone done any lessons or projects that relate to...

Illusions / magic: I was thinking it would be fun to have students figure out how illusionists use angles ....how do you saw a person in half :-)?

Crime scenes: how investigators use geometry to figure out what happened in a car accident or murder investigation.

Geometry and special effects/film or game making: I was really gung ho but got to poking around and thought this might get complicated (3-D imaging...need to learn software). Looking for something doable!

Geometry and medicine: I don't know much about medical imaging but figure there must be some geometry in there.

Designing a product they'd care about and its packaging, i.e., candy or a toy

Would appreciate any ideas, inspiration, or lessons learned from your own experiences doing projects like these!

Thanks

[Unregistered]

>:-(
>:-(
>:-(

[Unregistered]

well im a high schooler and well we all like food
so if you can link geom to food
you're kids will love you
use like pretzel sticks or something and make different shapes?
find the volume of marshmallows?
oh and for the whole medicine thing
im pretty sure like in chemistry different bonds are at different angles
i don't remember them but
ask the chem teacher at the school you're at?
hope that was somewhat helpful

[Unregistered]

There is a new geometry web site that you may want to take a look at. It shows cardboard and transparent plastic geodesic domes that kids have built. The website (at http://www.domebook.com) highlights kid-made domes and shows some of their creations. The students start by constructing paper models (viewers can download models of two different kinds of domes from the "Domes" page on the site), then construct full-size domes using cardboard or wooden dowels and plastic sheeting. YOur high schoolers may like constructing a dome that they can donate to a kindergarten class or library.

[Unregistered]

my students used toothpicks to build small models of geodesic domes, then they used rolled newspaper to build much larger domes that we put on display out in the school courtyard.
search desert domes on google for ideas.

[Unregistered]

Have the kids study packaging for cereal and possibly powdered detergent. Experiment with various packaging schemes. How would you design a package to use the least resources per quantity packaged? How would you design a package to offer the most advertising space? In the grocery store, choose x products. Are they packaged for advertisement or for ecology? What about ergonomics?

This project can be adapted to any age group. In the end, have the kids decide what is most important to them as a manufacturer, and design their own package according to their own criteria.

[Unregistered]

My middle school friend goes to Scholastic's site for their classroom solutions area. The 6-8 gr. teacher advisor is very strong in math and science according to my friend. She has lots of ideas and pics of how things work in her room. Maybe she can give you some ideas that would work for slightly older students.
http://blogs.scholastic.com/classroom_solutions/stacey_grades_68.html