Spring is here in Lawrence, KS. That means rain, wind, more rain, and MEASUREMENT DAY! Every spring a few associates in the Lawrence office spend a morning and afternoon at Pinckney Elementary, a local school, with oodles of students in Kindergarten through Fifth Grade. We, and other local businesses, embed the concept of ‘measurement’ into what we do as professionals in day to day life with an activity for them to participate in.

This year, to tie into our upcoming renovations of their school with the activity, we created an activity that allowed them to design their own classrooms using the concept of ‘scale’. We showed the students, in groups of 15 or so, what ‘scale’ is, ie. “Here is a chair, here a drawing of a chair to a ‘scale’” We showed a set of drawings and a 3D model, to which many ooohs and ahhhhs followed. Then, the students placed scale chairs, tables, windows, doors, whiteboards, coat hangers, and a fish tank in a ‘classroom’ taped out on the floor of their gymnasium. Some students picked it up right away, one asserting, “The desks should go here, by the windows, so you could escape in a fire!” By the end of the day, the miniature architects had showed us their vision for what the new classrooms at Pinckney could be in over 18 different classroom designs!

Sean Zaudke

Sean Zaudke

Sean Zaudke