Real-world mathematics along the path to success

On an unseasonably warm and sunny April morning at Oak Grove Park in northwest Iowa, one might expect to hear birds chirping and squirrels scurrying through the brush. What you might not expect to hear is “zero… 96… 27… 890,” the sound of sixth grade students shouting GPS coordinates and slope measurements to their classmates.

“There aren’t many accessible trails in this neck of the woods,” said Alan Bandstra, sixth grade science teacher at Sioux Center Christian School and 2026 Iowa STEM Teacher Award recipient for the Northwest STEM region.

For several years, the 6th grade teaching team at Sioux Center Christian School have been taking students to Oak Grove Park. They are affectionately known as the "Trailblazers" in the community. The kids enjoy time out of the traditional classroom helping park staff with projects like building trails and addressing invasive species, and teachers enjoy connecting students’ classroom lessons to real-world applications.

“Last year, they researched Newton’s Laws and erosion mitigation,” Bandstra said, as he pointed out steps and a one-rock dam that students helped build after noticing issues with erosion and flooding that washed out trails or made them difficult to navigate.

The most recent initiative comes at direct request from park staff, providing an opportunity for students to continue learning about STEM through hands-on activities.

“Oak Grove gave us the idea. They recognized the problem and then brought it to us to see how to fix it,” said Nate Breen, a sixth grade teacher at Sioux Central Christian.

The idea? The park received an accessible track chair to allow visitors with mobility issues to better enjoy the park. However, the chair has limitations on the incline it can climb and areas it can fit through.

“The chairs can only handle certain slopes, but they weren't sure how to figure out what trails met that,” Bandstra said. “I said we could help.”

The project has been about three years in the making. Previous sixth grade students presented at a school board meeting and fielded questions from adults in the community. Those same students, now eighth graders, were given the opportunity to apply to be student chaperones on this year’s trip, gathering data and seeing their hard work progressing further.

Students split into small groups, each with their own set of supplies, including a park map, GPS to gather coordinates and a homemade clinometer to measure slopes. Bandstra reviewed the data points students were expected to gather, how to use their tools and important things to keep in mind before releasing groups into the park.

The students took ownership of the project, self-assessing trails and determining when to take measurements.

“Hold on! There were some steps we passed and we need to go back to those,” said Gavin, a sixth grade student.

When they stopped to take measurements, the groups assessed potential problematic measurements or what might be within the margin of error and should be double-checked.

“If it’s less than four feet, it’s a pinch point, and this is only two,” said sixth grader Louisa, as she measured the path heel-to-toe just as Bandstra had instructed.

For grades, “25% is the limit, I’d say 24 is questionable,” Gavin said.

Not only will the park be leveling out existing paths where the grade is too steep, but they are looking at ways to create new trails to popular landmarks and park highlights. The Little Rock, Big Rock trail takes hikers by a popular photo spot but is filled with steps and steep inclines.

“Their hope is to get to the rock with a trail chair, so as we walk, let’s brainstorm ideas,” said sixth grade English teacher Gretchen De Wit to a group of students after measuring the steep slope of the trail.

Students took notes on clipboards as they went around the park and will put their data into a spreadsheet to share with Oak Grove staff.

“They have to put in their location, the coordinates from north and west, they have to put in the slope, camber and grade, and then that will actually appear in Google Maps,” Breen said. “It’s fun to see their work being used by the Oak Grove staff.”