BioDome Curriculum Design

BioDome Curriculum Design

Meet my charming assistant helping me to create my BioDome curriculum design. Lydia and I were convinced that my instincts to teach the basic geometry of the BioDome could be mastered with straws, pipe cleaners and ONE hour of time. It was a success and I am very proud of us.

Geometry and Magic

The really cool thing about this project is that we were working on two DIFFERENT goals! I wanted to discover the bare minimum of materials to build a BioDome in under an hour. Lydia was exploring how big she needed to make the BioDome to hold an Aftrican Leopard Lizard.

Regardless, We both achieved our goals. The dome takes 50 straws and 25 pipe cleaners. The ratio of the lengths is also a geometric function.

The hardest part was prepping the straws' lengths and cutting the pipe cleaners. If that can be managed the time to build will be 15 minutes. Then we can add an art component by deciding how we cover it!

Relevance and Function

The relevance of Lydia's mission made it much easier and fun to build this dome. She immediately knew she would need a larger dome to get more space between the top of the dome and the heat lamp. We also agreed it made more sense to 3D print the hubs so we could use any material!

I am really looking forward to testing out this curriculum with a workshop or two at Mezzacello Urban Farm. Many thanks to the City of Columbus Parks and Recreation and the Garden Conservancy of New York for their generous donations and grants that made this research possible!