Cubism at its Best

cubism studyFor the last two days, we have done a nature of science activity in seventh grade. The students were given a variety of cubes. On five sides of each cube were written some bits of evidence. The students were to try to predict the pattern begun on the cube, and identify some possible solutions. As scientists, they were to think divergently, use background knowledge, and not be afraid to make mistakes as they came up with many possible answers for each cube.  Our genius students did all of those things. Some of the cubes we gave them were:

  • the first five Fibonacci numbers 0, 1, 1, 2, 3…
  • 1, 2, 3, 4, 5
  • Small towns in our area
  • First five elements in Group 1 of the Periodic Table – H, Li, Na, K, Rb…
  • Synonyms for glad
  • Squares – 1, 4, 9, 16, 25…
  • and more, about ten in all

Cube

One of the trickier cubes for the students was the one shown above. Our students struggled with it, according to Vanessa, “for half the period,” but they began to see a pattern emerge. Here is a video showing their discovery and subsequent teaching to the rest of the class.

I hope you’ll share with me a comment or link to what your brilliant students have been up to!

Photo: By Jenster181 Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0) License