Students in Math Academy learn concepts and apply them to projects that mirror real-life situations.

As an example, fourth graders studied kinetic and potential energy and speed involved in roller coasters, and then they were tasked with building their own miniature luge track. Students worked in groups, and their projects were graded by how many turns, types of track, speed of a marble moving down the track and construction aesthetics. They were given 10 sheets of newspaper, one roll of masking tape, 10 plastic straws, four wooden craft sticks, two pieces of wire, a pair of scissors and a marble to create their luge track. Some marbles moved fast down the tracks, jumped from track to track and spit out onto the poster board at the bottom. Some marbles got stuck in a tunnel and others fell out unexpectedly to the dismay of the team members.

In another example, third graders learned to simplify fractions by baking chocolate cookies from a recipe. They had to determine the amount of each ingredient by simplifying a fraction from the recipe. The students put in each ingredient while another stirred. They all rolled dough into balls and then took the baking sheet to the kitchen to bake. A few minutes later, the cookies came out and were very tasty.

Math Academy is taught by Diane Kemp.