Gone are the days when math books and tests were the main components of a class and memorizing formulas was the way to get good grades. As it is the case with all subjects at ISD, Math is educated in a way that makes it applicable in the real world.
We can therefor say that Grade 10 students had eventful Math classes lately. After a short overview of their learning unit, they were visited by a guest speaker straight from Istanbul: the head of the Measurement Group in Turkey held a workshop on taking measurements in the construction industry.
The engineer presented the giant projects he has worked on, including the design of the BMW factory in Debrecen. The tools he used in his work were put to the test in the schoolyard. This was a good opportunity for them to be exposed to the industry standards in measurement before embarking on their math research field trip to one of Debrecen’s iconic buildings.
The purpose of the visit to the Great Church was for the students to fulfill the requirements of taking some measurements for a math research paper. Students were expected to apply trigonometry and two other chosen methods to find out the height of their selected buildings. Students took measurements of horizontal distance from a standing point to the selected building and also measure the angle of elevation (from their eyes) to the top point of their selected buildings. They also needed to collect data for the other two methods of their choice.
Learning by experiencing, in real-life situations results in a much deeper knowledge than memorizing the textbooks.
“What you hear you forget, what you see you remember, what you do you learn” (Confucius)
