Structured learning

Gifted students have designs on architecture, including real-life construction, famous designers and landmark buildings.

[Times photo: Fred Victorin] Second-grader Trent Hunter, 7, shows a model of the Brooklyn Bridge. Gifted first- through fifth-graders have made models of famous buildings, including the Taj Mahal and Chrysler Building.

By CHRISTINE GRAEF

© St. Petersburg Times, published February 9, 2000

ST. PETERSBURG -- The students in Darlene McLean's gifted class at Bay Point Elementary School were studying the elements of architecture this year, but when they began watching construction of the new school behind their classrooms, they received a real-life lesson in building.

Every six weeks, each of the first- through fifth-grade gifted classes at 2051 62nd Ave. S are walked through the site to follow the progression of the two-story building as the foundation is dug, pipes are laid and a retention pond is hollowed into the landscape.

"The site manager explains to them what's being done," the teacher said. "It's exciting how the community is involved in their learning."

Once a week the students are pulled out of class to attend McLean's session, where lessons focusing on a theme are woven into projects. Previous years' topics have included oceanography, geography and the Olympics.

This year's theme is architecture. Beginning with diagramming the floor plans of their own homes, students have toured the construction site, learned about tow trucks, dump trucks, front loaders and bulldozers, listened to a visiting structural engineer, examined a model of a wall built by firefighter John Adams, and have done a hands-on project at Home Depot. Students also visited Pinellas Technical Education Center's instructor, James Bryden.

"Mr. Bryden answered questions we had sent him," said fifth-grader Brittany Varner. Brittany said students wanted to know about how foundations are laid, how much it costs to build a mansion, and how to build a house on the beach that won't sink in the sand.

"You have to dig really deep and make sure the soil and sand are solid enough for a building to stand on if there is an earthquake or tornado," said fifth-grader Byron Crawford. Bryden will soon visit the students to teach them how to measure the new school in preparation for designing their own models.

Projects already completed, built with clay, foam board, toothpicks, cardboard, spray paint, Legos and puzzle pieces, line the shelves in the school's media center. Among them are models of the Taj Mahal, Chrysler Building, Great Wall of China, Empire State Building, the Astrodome in Houston, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. The statue, made by second-grader Bridget Siegel, also illustrates the size of one of Liberty's fingernails: 13 by 13 inches high and 10 by 10 inches wide.

In the fifth-grade class, Wesley Anderson chose to research Frank Lloyd Wright.

"He introduced organic architecture, established a school and wrote books," Wesley said.

Long before Wright became famous for his ingenuity, Imhotep was designing pyramids in Egypt.

"Everything about Egypt is interesting to me," said fifth-grader Rachel Scherer, whose foam board project of a pyramid includes the foundation circle used to plan the pyramid and to locate the north side by the appearance of the North Star. The class now knows that the quadrilateral pyramid is the strongest structure among the three- and four-sided pyramids. Brittany Varner said the Parthenon was used as a church, a mosque and a place to store gunpowder. Vocabulary words such as "antiquity," "wrought iron" and "coffers" were also part of the study. Fifteen new words had to be incorporated into the fifth grade's videotaped presentations.

To demonstrate what a coffer is, Joseph Burnsed designed hollowed-out squares stacked on top of each other, which decrease the weight in structures such as domes.

Fifth-grader Shane Chism's castle was complete with a drawbridge, fountain, dungeon and kitchen.

"Most indoor activities took place in the great hall," said Shane. "There were many bed chambers, and every castle was required to have a chapel."

Shane said the kitchen was built as a separate structure in the courtyard to prevent fire from spreading to the wooden interior of the castle. "The purpose of a castle was to protect the land. Openings on the rooftop were for attacking their enemies. They'd throw down pretty much anything that would burn," Shane said.

Shane said most people ask why the building of castles was stopped. "It's because of the invention of the cannon. They had no purpose and couldn't protect anymore."

Fifth-grader Joseph O'Connell's poster of the Sunshine Skyway was also researched thoroughly. "First I went to the library and looked back at old newspaper stories. After that, I surfed the Internet," Joseph said.

The Skyway is a concrete segmented bridge. Its steel cables are 5 inches in diameter and made of "lots of different strands twisted together," Joseph said. The information will appear on Joseph's set of questions for the Quiz Bowl.

Drawing from information researched on their own projects, the students will exchange questions and answers.

"One of the things for gifted students is to be self-directed. They evaluate each other, ask what else could be done and learn time management," said McLean.

The students will next participate in an "architect convention." After choosing to be either Wright or Imhotep, they will act in character and discuss the design and construction of buildings.

"You might look at the structures built many years ago by the Egyptians and the structures built now and you may think they're different. But they both had to know about structural limits to stand up to natural disasters like hurricanes and earthquakes," said Rachel Scherer, the fifth-grader.

Joseph Burnsed added: "But they are totally different. The Egyptians used one basic structure, the pyramid. But Wright designed a lot of different houses."

A lesson in noise was also learned. "Because neighbors complain, there's a noise ordinance," said Brittany Varner. "They can only build during certain hours."

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