For many students, math is a boring and even loathed course. However, campus algebra II teacher, Mike Fenton, seemed to replace this typical assumption with a more amicable outlook.

In hopes to teach his students how to apply math to everyday activities, Fenton assigned his first and eighth period classes to ramp construction on Oct. 14.

?Many students always ask if math is ever used in life,? Fenton said. ?But the reality of it all is that math is used all the time, especially in technology.?

The assignment taught students the importance of measuring distance while engaging them in an appealing task at the same time. Another purpose of the project was learning to make educated guesses by viewing an equation for a given point on the ramp.

?I thought doing this project gave me a better understanding of math,? Claire Kister, ?08, said. ?It also provided my partner, Philip Unruh [?07] and I a chance to study and use math in real life experiences.?

As part of the project the students were required to complete their assignments with partners.

?My two partners were Haley Tamberi and Elizabeth Mendrin [both ?07],? Rachel Bell, ?07, said. ?Our project went very well because the estimations we had were correct.?

While other participants might not have realized the real world applications that the project offered, some enjoyed playing with the test subjects.

?I had to build functioning card board ramps with my partners, Brandon Cain [?06] and Will Heirholzer [?07],? Garrett Stipe, ?06, said. ?We got to race little toy cars on them which was really fun. I mean who doesn?t have fun playing with cars??

Later in the year the class will prepare another test. However the complexity level will increase. Fenton hopes the exercises will improve students? comprehension of math in real life situations.

?If students find math to be useless then it becomes a disadvantage to their lives,? Fenton said. ?As long as students try and work on this or other projects, they might find that math can be fun and they might make connections to the world.?

For more information regarding upcoming algebra II projects, contact Fenton at [email protected]. They are currently working on a project Fenton calls ?the fun side of mathematics utilizing a tennis ball.