Grades 3-5
29 activities—192 pages

Hardhatting in a Geo-World offers activities focusing on mathematics and engineering. These highly engaging endeavors foster an appreciation for the amazing world surrounding us as well as develop math skills, process skills and critical thinking.

In “Pillars of Strength,” students determine the weight-bearing capabilities of paper tubes by exploring how a tube’s height, diameter, and thickness affect its strength. Using what they have learned, they will then engineer a tube strong enough for a classmate to stand on it without crushing the tube in the activity, “Step on It.”

Hardhatting in a Geo-World is conveniently divided into three sections: structures, measurement, and geometry.
In the Structures section, the supporting strength of a cylinder and rigidity of the triangle are explored. This knowledge is then applied to the creative design and construction of cubes, bridges, and towers which meet certain specifications.
Measurement activities will help students understand and develop skills in measuring length, mass, volume, time, and angles in a real-world context. Proficiency in measurement is important in science as well as mathematics as most scientific experiments rely on measurements of some kind.

Geometry is one of the more approachable topics in mathematics because it deals with the spatial realm. Students will grapple with the concepts of shape and dimension as they fold or cut paper, build nets, split milk cartons, dip shape frames in soapy water, observe and create circle patterns, explore fence perimeters, and measure geometric shapes on the playground.

Across the nation, test scores in measurement and geometry are low. Hardhatting in a Geo-World aids teachers in giving students the opportunity to create a solid foundation as they learn about and apply skills of measurement and concepts of geometry.