June 12, 2002
Student projects shinning examples
Interlochen fourth-grade builds model lighthouses
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
From Point Betsie to White Shoal, Round Island to Big Sable, fourth-grade students at Interlochen Elementary School built scale models of Michigan lighthouses this spring.
This unit study pulled together a broad range of subjects: history, electricity, math, engineering, geography economics and maritime shipping. Lonni Sawin, the math and science teacher for the fourth-grade, conceived of the project eight years ago. Since fourth-graders study Michigan history and electricity she thought building a lighthouse would be a great way to bring it all together.
Sawin and team teacher Barb Prior, who teaches language arts and social studies, have made it a regular part of their spring curriculum.
"They have to combine knowledge of electricity and circuits with building a lighthouse, plus learn its history, do research and give an oral report," said Sawin, a teacher for 15 years. "This works so well because it combines the curriculum so well, it is a themed unit."
"They not only get more excited with this but they can also make connections with what they see and know around them," she noted.
This year's crop of 24 lighthouses was displayed for a month in the Children's Department of the Traverse Area District Library, where they drew their share of 'oohs' and 'aahs' from library patrons. They also generated a request from a volunteer at the Grand Traverse Lighthouse to display next year's lighthouses in their Northport-based museum next summer.
Working in teams of two, the students threw themselves into the project, researching a lighthouse both at the library during a field trip and via the Internet. As a practical way to reinforce their science curriculum, Sawin taught the students to build a complete circuit. She required that each lighthouse model actually work, which thrilled the students when they figured out how to do this.
"I liked making it light up," said Erika Bodzianowski, who built a model of the Seul Choix Point lighthouse with a partner. "First you had to make a circuit with a battery, battery clip, socket, wiring and a light bulb."
The students scrounged construction materials from school and home.
Besides wood and cardboard, they used all sorts of construction materials, letting their imaginations guide them: oatmeal cans, toilet paper rolls, Christmas tree lights, pencils and pencil erasers, coffee filters, fishing bobber. One lighthouse featured a baby's bottle cover, another used pennies for windows while another had a painted over sucker as an accessory. The students also used a variety of lights and switches to create their working lighthouse.
Many landscaped the surroundings to match the actual lighthouse, including rocks, water, grass and benches. Others students included boats or people in their tableau.
"You had to have a lot of patience and practice to build this," said Jessica Ferguson, who with partner Kendra Biondo built a model of the South Haven South Pier Lighthouse.
These girls even constructed a model of the lighthouse's lengthy catwalk, learning the craft of soldering to put the wire structure together.
"The hardest was building the catwalk, if you touched the wrong thing it would all fall down," said Ferguson. "It was confusing once we started the catwalk part because we didn't know how to center it. It was also hard to hide the battery."
The project was a challenge for the students but they were determined to make their models as accurate as possible, right down to the windows, shrubs and doors.
"It was quite hard building it and painting the stripes and making the lake around it," said Felicia Highan, who built a model of the White Shoal lighthouse.