Good News

May 22, 2009

Charter school carnival adds up

Probability of learning while having fun? Great!

By Mark Guydish mguydish@timesleader.com
Education Reporter
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BEAR CREEK TWP. – Hmmm…. Legos, Tinker Toys, Kinex, Magnetix, Erector Sets …. Popping balloons with darts, putting miniature golf, shooting hoops ….. cookies, candy, soda, prizes … all in a giant tent with playground equipment beckoning nearby in Thursday’s sun …

When did school work get to be so fun?

“They had to pick the style of game – spinner, balls, or dice. They had to study the probabilities, they had to design a game with a 25 to 40 percent chance of winning,” Bear Creek Community Charter School math teacher Jerry Usher explained, rapidly sucking the fun out of the air at the school’s Probability Carnival. “They had to give three convincing reasons it would make a profit, and they had to make a small mockup.”

Students also had to pay for the materials to make the games, build them, buy the prizes and then draw in enough fellow students during the carnival to show a hypothetical profit.

This is starting to sound a lot more like homework.

But then, how many teachers tell students to build a “Ba Ba Balloon popper” game and then get others to toss darts at it, or to construct “Dr. Insano’s Experiment”

We’d try to explain that last one – it involves a spinner, ball, and the doctor’s eerie basket -- but it might drive you crazy … Mwaaa-haaaa-haaa-haaa!

Nicole Delevan, 14, had a simple option for gamers, the “Surf Shack,” a whimsical hut with three floors and an attic, all sporting doors with pictures of cute animals. Hand over a fake coin and get two chances to open a door and feel if a prize is inside. It took two months of spare time to build.

Was it making a profit? “Oh, Yeah!”

Of course, all profits were numbers, not real cash.

The carnival also had “virtual amusement rides,” miniature models of full-blown dreams built with everything from Legos and assorted construction toys to gumdrops and cardboard tubes. One roller coaster, the “Extremeinator,” was meticulously crafted from Popsicle sticks, as was a Ferris wheel across the room.

“They had to calculate the virtual cost” of a full-size version, Usher said, including steel and other materials. The price went up with the proposed height of the hypothetical ride, doubling if it was 25 to 50 feet high, and tripling if it was even higher. Along with making the models, students had to make posters to advertise them and sheets detailing the materials and costs if they were really built. Then they had to calculate how many tickets they would have to sell to make a profit. Fellow students got to pick their favorite designs and vote by dropping “tickets” in cans near each ride.

The carnival even had a concession stand which – you guessed it – students ran with an eye toward virtual profit, setting up shifts and tracking receipts and inventory …

Hey …. Wait a minute …. This sounds like a trick …

When did fun get to be so much work?

Mark Guydish, a Times Leader staff writer, may be reached at 829-7161

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