Riverdale gifted students explore naval history through LEGOs
Published 11:09 am Wednesday, December 26, 2018
- Lily Kelly and Eliza Edwards with their model of USS Cumberland. The USS Cumberland was a 50-gun sailing frigate of the United States Navy. She was the first ship sunk by the ironclad CSS Virginia during the Civil War. | Submitted by Will Melbye
By Will Melbye
COURTLAND
Melissa Leinart and the Discovery Center hosted the Hampton Roads Naval Museum’s LEGO Brick by Brick program.
Students created LEGO renditions of historical naval vessels, with the assistance of carefully crafted plans from the Naval Museum.
Students were given a brief lesson on the history of ship building in the United States, and compared present day ships to the Age of Sail ships.
Mathematical skills covered in the lesson were percentages, surface area, simple graphs, ship buoyancy and displacement. Students utilized their previous knowledge and these new skills and vocabulary to produce their models.