Project: Holiday Decorations

The basic concept of the project is to create a holiday decoration, appropriate to the month of December, that is "screamingly" mathematical. Students were told that unexpected math shapes were the way to go; if it looked like something you'd find on the shelf at Walmart, then that was an "expected" shape.

Thus, Christmas trees are not cone-shaped, but pyramid-shaped. Snowmen are made with icosahedra, rather than spheres.

One of the exceptions to the rule would be the Moravian Star, which is something like an icosahedron with pyramid-spikes on each face. More about the mathematical origins here.

Though the holidays in December are mostly religious in origin, Mr. Goettman allows students to choose alternate topics in respect to the culture at the home.