Students used creativity and collaboration coupled with key components of geometry during a recently completed Project NEXT 9 project. To learn about angles, students hit a local mini-golf course! But it wasn’t your typical field trip. The students measured, figured out the varying degrees of angles and slopes, and used mathematical principles. After visiting a mini-golf course, the students prepared to build their own mini-golf hole. To assist them, a landscape architect and civil engineer from GMB Architecture and Engineering visited with the students to answer questions and provide inspiration for their projects. GMB works in teams, similar to that of Project NEXT, to complete projects, solve problems, and create solutions. Students were able to ask questions and gain knowledge of the architectural and engineering process. After that, the students created blueprints, which underwent several modifications. The blueprints identified slopes and angels and detailed what their layout would look like. Students then used a variety of materials to construct their mini-golf hole. Some groups used technology to print 3D objects and others used recycled items, or items found in nature, among other things. For the final presentation, students played and evaluated their peers’ golf holes. Each mini-golf hole was judged on its creative integration of different terms and students’ understanding of geometry. As an added twist, their golf holes also had to retell a turning point in history!

Project NEXT is housed at Forest Hills Northern High School and is a project-based learning program that began officially in 2018.