Icosahedrons at School 12

Last month Art Teacher Ms Tejada and PIR Sandler co-taught a STEAM lesson to 4^th grade students that involved icosahedrons.  An icosahedron is 20-sided three-dimensional figure, each face of which is an equilateral triangle.

Students were given a two-dimensional template of 20 equilateral triangles, and asked to make it three-dimensional.  They had to score the interior lines and connect the tabs on the exteriors of the triangles.  In the picture at the right, a student assembles an icosahedron.

The instructors then used the art concept of “taking a walk with a dot” and challenged students to use a black marker to draw a line that would incorporate all twenty triangles. This involved critical and artistic thinking, as the students had to consider the path, the thickness, and the style of the line.

This lesson built upon and extended one that was done last year in which students fabricated cubes (six-sided three-dimensional figures, each face of which is a square.) In that lesson each face of the cube contained artwork inspired by famous artists (including Vincent Van Gogh, Paul Klee, Claude Monet, Leonardo DaVinci, Andy Warhol, Salvador Dali, Mary Cassatt, and Michelangelo.)

The teachers and students then discussed the concept of mobiles, and decided to create a large one that incorporated everyone’s icosahedron, connecting them with pieces of wire.   








 The result is a large-scale class sculpture that everyone can enjoy.