Record all your work on a sheet of paper to turn in. All answers must be in complete sentence and proper paragraph structure. One word answers will not be accepted.
FEARSOME FEMURS AND FOURTHS
In this activity, students will use their height and femur length to examine the concept of proportion. The femur is approximately 1/4 of a person’s adult height. The students will discover if this is true, and decide how much growth may yet occur for them.
Students are to write down the length of their femur and their height on a piece of paper. They are to figure out if their height is one-fourth the length of their femur.
Describe your findings. Did your results indicate that your femur is 1/4 of your height? If it did not, why do think so? Could this mean there is more growth in store for you? What if your femur is 1/4 your total height? Does this mean that you have finished growing?
HOW DOES YOUR “WING SPAN” MEASURE UP?
Your height and wing span should be about the same. Are their measurements the same? Why or why not? What do you think would be a good explanation for this? What if you span is longer than you height? Could this mean that you have more growing to do?
HEADS UP
Another interesting body proportion is that of the circumference of the head compared to height. Find the ratio of the circumference of your head to the height of your body. What did you find? Find ten other classmates ratios. What can you predict about another persons ratio of head circumference and height?
SEVEN UP
The Greeks and Romans had high ideals about what the “perfect” man was like and exhibited their best in competitions and art. They believed that the “perfect” man’s body was 7 heads tall. Determine if your height is 7 heads tall. Divide the height of your heads into your body height. (Remember to change all factors to the same unit — feet to inches, meters to centimeters.) Are they 7 heads tall? Does this make you the “Olympic Ideal” or just “normal” ? Study more about Greek and Roman art and mathematics. There are fascinating discoveries to be made, such as the “Golden Triangle,” that make interesting studies on their own.
Write a brief summary of an interesting fact about Greek and Roman art and mathematics.