In trimester 3, Ms. Modls’s Honors Analysis class challenges themselves by making their own conics. Conics are drawings made of at least 15 unique graphs. Students had to apply their Analysis skills to create these beautiful drawings. Ms. Modl has been doing this project for over 8 years.
“I love it when students can apply their math skills to create amazing designs that they take great pride in. It is truly rewarding for them and for me too!” says Ms. Modl.Students start by drawing animals, foods, landscapes, and even logos.
Then they create their equations and restrictions that hopefully mimic their drawing. Once these equations are in students’ calculators, they have their conic. This project was very challenging, as it involved a lot of trial and error, but, in the end it provided outstanding results.
When asked Ms. Modl’s favorite part of the Conics project, she responded with, “To see how the project enfolds for the students from a simple idea, to the process of writing the equations, placing them accurately, coding and debugging, and then seeing how all their efforts materialize.”
Additionally, Ms. Modl recognizes a few conics that were made in prior years. She talks about how two students were able to make the ‘Taj Mahal’ and our ‘Mother Mary’. She states that although these two conics were very complex and challenging, these students were able to develop them beautifully.
