PINELLAS PARK -- On one side of the room, math teacher Alice Haynes stood in front of the chalkboard holding a compass. She showed the class how to draw a triangle with three equal sides.

On the other side of the room, art teacher Carol Ackerson followed the lesson and drew a triangle. Then, she showed the class how to use dots and lines to add texture to the drawing.

In this classroom at Pinellas Park High School, geometry is art and art is geometry. Those two subjects might seem like oil and water, but Haynes and Ackerson said they have much in common, including beauty, form and balance.

For a student such as sophomore Andria Perry, who has struggled with algebra, the unique curriculum is finally making math click.

"In algebra, there's only one way of learning," said Perry, 15, as she drew a black and white design with equal lines, triangles and angles of varying degrees. "In this class, there's lots of ways."

The idea to merge the two subjects was born about seven years ago. Haynes was lamenting how some of her students were having trouble visualing basic geometric concepts. The pair started talking about Ackerson's lessons in basic two- and three-dimensional designs.

They realized they were on to something.

Haynes has degrees in math and art, but never taught art. Ackerson, who despised geometry as a high school student and thought it was "very, very dry," was willing to try it again. Now she loves it, but she's still learning.

"They like that I ask questions and make mistakes," Ackerson said.

The team knows of no other school in Tampa Bay or the state that teaches geometry and art together with two teachers for two hours. In the past several years, Haynes and Ackerson have tried to pass on what they have learned by training math and art colleagues to better integrate the two topics.

Haynes and Ackerson have taken some of their own advice.

They teach the geometry-art combo class only once a day, in Ackerson's art room. The rest of the day, each teaches more typical math and art classes. But even those more traditional classes have benefited from their geometry through art experiment.

In math, for example, Haynes said she schedules more visual projects than she used to. Ackerson teaches her design students how to use compasses and measurements.

They say the combo class is good for students who struggle, who need a new way of looking at math and might benefit from seeing how it relates to the real world. The class also helps advanced math students who need a challenge beyond typical pencil-and-paper problem-solving.

Haynes and Ackerson said some students are drawn to their class because they think it will be a breeze, like the high school version of rocks for jocks.

But their class is actually structured like an advanced college seminar, with the students encouraged to do a lot of individual and group work. Haynes spends less time lecturing and more time circulating the room with Ackerson, observing students' progress and answering questions.

Although the students still draw shapes and figure equations using algebra, they don't spend as much time working long lists of problems. Instead, they use the principles learned in geometry to explore design and contrast and structure.

Students use water color paints, clay and colored pencils to explore geometric forms. They build pyramids, miniature furniture and mobiles.

"It helps you because you can see the geometry through the art," said sophomore Tiffany Stout, 15. "It's hands-on."

Because the class has two teachers, it lasts two periods and students get course credit in both geometry and art and a grade for each. Surprisingly, Haynes and Ackerson have little trouble holding the attention of the more than 40 students, mostly sophomores and juniors. That could be because all of the students have chosen to be there, sometimes out of curiosity, sometimes out of frustration with either discipline.

On a recent morning, Haynes showed the class how to cut a segment in half by finding the midpoint with a compass. Then, she moved on to cutting angles in half. She marked her drawing to show which angles were equal, extending that lesson into one on equilateral triangles.

At the same time, Ackerson stood at the other chalkboard, struggling to get her compass to work right. She checked with the students periodically to make sure they were having better luck with the instrument than she was.

As Haynes showed the class how to use what they know about the relationship between angles to solve algebraic equations, Ackerson wrote a list on the board: line, texture, shape/form, value, color.

To show movement, Ackerson drew dots clustered together in one corner of a triangle. As the dots moved into the triangle's center, they moved farther apart.

"No matter how with it you get to be, always, always, always draw your pictures," Ackerson said. "Your designs are going to look great, and you're going to learn geometry, and your entire life is going to be wonderful."

To a student such as sophomore Scott Moland, the class has a lot less busywork than previous math classes with "extremely boring" teachers. He likes having two teachers around to help him grow in two disciplines.

"I'm thinking of art as just slopping some paint around," said Moland, 16. "Now that I do see what they're talking about; you really do see geometric shapes in art."

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