Olathe students take hands-on approach to geometry. Look who benefits from their work

Olathe North High School is looking at geometry classes from a new angle. The school’s geometry in construction class lets two disciplines intersect, allowing practical applications of mathematical theory. Their year of learning culminated this month with the students presenting their project — a tiny home built from scratch — to a veteran living in Topeka.

It’s the fourth year that instructors Jeremiah Baer and Michael Wagner have partnered to teach the class, and there’s proof that it’s growing in popularity. With two sections of 20 students each, this is their biggest group yet.

“We’re together with the students the whole time, because there’s so many tasks that the kids do that are both heavy in construction and heavy in geometry,” said Baer, who teaches the math side of the course.

Baer has been impressed with how well the combination approach has worked.

“They’re learning all of the exact same standards that they would learn by taking their geometry course, but we’re just doing it in a way that’s a little more hands-on, and we tie it to the construction trade so they have more concrete examples of what’s happening,” Baer said. “The students are much more engaged in the content, and they’re performing very well in the geometry side of things.”

That’s the definitely been the case for student Marley Sheehy.

“I like being hands-on. I can see it, so I can put it together better in the classroom,” she said.

Students don’t have to have any construction experience to take the class, but some of them do come in with prior knowledge.

In previous years, the class built storage sheds for school staff members, but this year Baer helped them connect with Mattersville, a Colorado-based non-profit that helps veterans with homelessness and other issues. Mattersville recently added a Topeka site to its program.

With some fundraising, plus discounted materials provided by Lowe’s, the students were able to take the skills they’ve been learning and apply them to building a tiny home for Dave Childress, a veteran who has been working for Mattersville. Childress has been living out of his van for five years.

“We started by sketching pictures of what you think should be in a tiny home, how big should it be, and floor plans. That kind of thing,” said Wagner, who handles the construction instruction.

They got assistance from Mattersville with the floor plan. Just before spring break, students divided into teams to work on the different segments of the home: the floor, the roof and more.

“It helps build teamwork and construction skills. When someone’s building a wall, and someone else is holding it, you really have to trust them,” said student Jordan Chenoweth.

Wagner taught them skills such as using a hand saw, an electric drill and a miter saw, cutting square corners and even using a ruler correctly.

“On the math side of things, one of things we’ve had to use a lot is how to use a tape measure to get a 90-degree angle in the corner of a rectangle,” Baer said.

The class delivered the tiny home to Topeka May 11 mostly finished, with the walls built and insulated, the roof on and shingled, and doors and windows installed. Mattersville will take care of the finishing steps, such as painting the house.

“It’s pretty unbelievable to see how, because we’re able to do something real that’s actually going to impact someone’s life, how much these kids dug into the content on both math and the construction trades. That was overwhelming to me,” Baer said. “It’s been such a positive experience for me that this is something I’ll never forget.”

Baer and Wagner plan to partner with Mattersville again next year.

This story was originally published May 19, 2023 at 5:00 AM.