TPAAK Launches “Doorway through Da Vinci”

T.R. Paul Academy of Arts & Knowledge (TPAAK) is a K-8 charter school in Fort Collins with a focus on the arts. Recently, TPAAK became the recipient of a grant from the Toshiba America Foundation. This grant is enabling TPAAK to launch the academic program “Doorway through Da Vinci.” This program will use the mathematical and scientific discoveries of Da Vinci to enhance the core academic studies of: wind and solar energy, geometry, beginning mechanical engineering principles, and the science of the color wheel. This unique program will be integrated into the academic lesson plans for TPAAK’s 3rd through 5th grade students, through the use of the Harcourt’s Science curriculum for energy, wind and simple machines basic studies.

Students will create interactive art sculptures based upon instruction that will consist of recycled items (i.e. plastic bottles, detergent jugs, etc.), powered by wind and/or solar energy which parents and visitors can walk through the future installed pergola at the school entrance. Science, math, and art teachers will collaborate to incorporate class lessons that will be used to build the moving art pieces. At the end of the four month program, students will reveal the progress of this program to fellow students, faculty, staff, parents, and special community guests during the March Paragon Student Achievement Night. The total finished product will be revealed when the pergola is completed during the 2013-2014 school year.

During implementation of this program, TPAAK students will also be exposed to careers in math, science, and the arts. Through partnerships with The Wind Energy Foundation and The Colorado Solar Energy Industries Association, staff will coordinate three monthly “A Day in The Life,” career days where industry professionals will speak to students. Teachers will also partner with the Colorado State University (a group of science educators and science students) “Little Shop of Physics” program to facilitate students researching the natural energies in the pergola design. This program will provide students the opportunity to build colorful windmills and pinwheels with various color transparent acrylic panels to create color mixing shadows on the ground under the canopy.

TPAAK students in Kindergarten through 2nd grades and 6th through 8th grades will also have the opportunity to be impacted by this academic enrichment program. Although students in these grades will not receive class instruction about these particular academic disciplines in depth, during their visit to the interactive pergola, they will be able to explore the various working parts and research the information display about the work. Teachers and parents will be able to enhance student understanding of higher-level math and science lessons, as well as learn about Da Vinci’s discoveries.