WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE : SCIENCE PUPILS MAP WHAT THEY'VE LEARNED.Byline: Michael Coit Daily News Staff Writer Painting comes easily to Tyler Cressler, yet crafting a colorful globe for a semester-culminating science project was tougher than the eighth-grader expected. ``I've been coming in for an hour before school every morning this week to get it done,'' Tyler said as he proudly put his detailed masterpiece on display in a Sequoia Intermediate School classroom Friday. Working weekly since January, often before and after school, Mary White's students crafted bright, topographic globes that the world's great explorers would have found handy as they sailed in search of new lands. Some 200 students crafted the globes by covering rubber punching bags with papier-mache, then painting the spheres bright blue. The seven continents were created with globs of clay and featured mountains, valleys and lowlands in shades of Noun 1. shades of - something that reminds you of someone or something; "aren't there shades of 1948 here?" reminder - an experience that causes you to remember something red, brown, yellow and green. Rather than giving a final exam Noun 1. final exam - an examination administered at the end of an academic term final examination, final exam, examination, test - a set of questions or exercises evaluating skill or knowledge; "when the test was stolen the professor had to make a new set of , White assigned the project to her five science classes as a wrap-up of their semester-long study. Jennifer Whitsitt figured a final exam might have been easier, given the amount of work involved on her globe. She was busy completing detailed painting and labeling Friday. ``I can't wait to get it done,'' Jennifer said. ``Right now it's a lot of work, but we'll be happy when we're done,'' she said. ``We've learned a lot, but it's just a lot of hard work.'' White began planning the project after completing a three-week geography seminar sponsored by the National Geographic Society National Geographic Society U.S. scientific society founded in 1888 in Washington, D.C., by a small group of eminent explorers and scientists “for the increase and diffusion of geographic knowledge. last summer. She said the globe project was an ideal medium to work with science students on a range of topics. ``I tried to involve all the different disciplines,'' White said. The initial blue sphere Blue Sphere (ブルースフィア Burū Sufia was used for ecology lessons, including the water cycle. Lines of longitude longitude (lŏn`jĭt  d'), angular distance on the earth's surface measured along any latitude line such as the equator east or west of the prime meridian. and latitude were drawn with metric tapes. Creating the land masses demanded use of maps and studies in geography and plate tectonics plate tectonics, theory that unifies many of the features and characteristics of continental drift and seafloor spreading into a coherent model and has revolutionized geologists' understanding of continents, ocean basins, mountains, and earth history. . Each globe ultimately was a signature artwork for each student. ``I would have many students here to 6 at night. I had many students here last Saturday working,'' White noted. ``It's beautiful. I am exhausted.'' The globes will remain on display for students and parents until the school year ends Friday. White figures the globes then will make ideal Father's Day gifts. CAPTION(S): 3 Photos Photo: (1) Tom Elzy and his eighth-grade classmates Classmates can refer to either:
(2--color) Jayme Barrett, left, Cara Flack and other pupils applied a semester's worth of science lessons in the construction of their topographic globes. (3) John DeMatteo puts finishing touches finishing touches finish npl the finishing touches → der letzte Schliff finishing touches npl → ultimi ritocchi mpl on his globe for science class. Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News |
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