Harrowsmith Public School geodesic domes

by Ann Elvins

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With only a few days of school remaining, the students at Harrowsmith Public have been busy with some very interesting special projects.

One thing I learned right off the bat is that I am not smarter than a 7^th grader. Like building geodesic domes - what is that all about? Well, a geodesic dome is an almost spherical structure based on a network of struts arranged on circles that keeps getting stronger as it increases in size. A good example Is Vancouver's Science World, which is 47-meters tall and composed of 766 triangles. The grade 7 students are building them at Harrowsmith Public. Not as large, yet still impressive. Pictured sitting in the dome is Cole Sweetman, in front of the dome Melissa Gerritsen and standing left to right are Colt Asselstine, John Addison and Taylor Hughes.

The challenge in building each dome was to use only the following: newspaper, tape, rulers, scissors and the knowledge of Mrs. VanNest, who monitored this science project. The goal was to see how many magazines could sit on top of each dome without the dome collapsing. The students had two periods to roll the newspapers into very tight tubes. Five periods were scheduled to build the actual domes. A few teams had trouble getting started but other groups hit the ground running. Like the all-girl team winners: Karley Heyman, Megan Ross, Lacy Evans, Harley Hyndman and Sarah Monnier. Their dome held 26 magazines.