LEONARD GRAY / L’Observateur / January 8, 2000

DESTREHAN – Most students, according to Destrehan High School mathematics teacher Jenny Lind, have a “math phobia.” Therefore, shetries to make her classes both educational and entertaining.

In one recent instance, she also made it good to eat.

“This all started last summer,” Lind related, “when I took a six-hour graduate course at Nicholls State under the Louisiana Science Initiative Foundation.”What came out of that was a recent 90-minute class during which 10th- grade students learned about applying math principles in the construction of gingerbread houses.

“They don’t think they’re learning,” Lind said, smiling.

The point of the graduate course Lind took was to explore ways to make various subjects more relevant and applicable to the average student in a hands-on approach. “Every science and math teacher should take this,”Lind said.

“Two-thirds of kids say they hate math,” Lind observed. “If I can get themover math phobia, I can teach them anything!” High praise, indeed, from a 14-year veteran teacher, the last 10 spent at Destrehan High.

The assignment was to build a rectangular prism, using a sheet of paper, graham crackers or gingerbread and candy for decoration during a 90- minute class period. Then, as homework, each student had to write andturn in a detailed lab report stating what they learned.

Each group was divided into different tasks, including “go-fers,” task monitor, timekeeper and grapher.

The comments from the students, quoted from their lab reports, tell the rest of the story: Bethanee Hebert: “This was the best lab we have done all semester.

Probably because we ate more than we built with.” Ashley Guidry: “This is the most fun lab that I have ever done. Eventhough my house collapsed, I still learned a great deal with volume and surface area of a rectangular prism by using a gingerbread house.” Beau St. Pierre: “This lab was fun but I probably gained about 10 morepounds doing it.”Lind said the lab stressed cooperative learning, measurements, technology, data collection and other goals.

“St. Charles Parish likes to be on the cutting edge of standards andbenchmarks,” Lind added.

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