Some Piedmont Elementary School students got a first-hand look at the value of a dollar and a minute in Christina Woodard’s class.On Thursday, the fourth graders were asked to build a free standing structure from drinking straws, paper clips and masking tape, all while doing it in 30 minutes and at the cheapest cost possible. Straws cost the students an imaginary dollar, while paper clips and one-inch of masking tape came cheaper at 20 cents each.
Students had to work together in a team to delegate a timekeeper, recorder, mathematician and spokesperson for each group of three of four students.
The special project was a part of Westinghouse Anniston’s education outreach program where the company sends employees to area schools to teach math, science and technology-related lessons to students.
Jim Jolley, security specialist for Westinghouse Anniston, has been teaching lessons like this for 10 years. Jolley said his favorite part of the project Piedmont’s fourth graders were doing that day was the teamwork aspect of it. “These students are learning how to work in a group, delegating responsibilities and working together, just like you do in the real world,” he said.
It just so happens, Jolley was teaching in his own daughter’s classroom. “Isn’t that funny?” he laughed.
The father and daughter team guided students through the hands-on project, carefully monitoring their teamwork skills and helping with building design ideas. “They’re so creative,” Woodard said. “They come up with so many ideas when we do things like this.”
Woodard said activities like this in her classroom help students quickly grasp concepts like budgeting, time management and teamwork. “There are a lot of elements that go into this,” she said. “And (the students) work just great together.”
