Thinking outside the box: ALC teacher joins 17,000 business cards in Menger sponge – Albert Lea Tribune

Gustafson is looking for more cards to include

In terms of hobbies, some people cook. Some play sports, while others knit. And Andrew Gustafson, a math teacher at the Albert Lea Area Learning Center, collects business cards.

He’s been doing this since 2016 after hearing about Queen Mary’s College in England making structures called Menger sponges.

Gustafson describes Menger sponges as 3-D fractal shapes that can grow indefinitely and repeat themselves. In theory, these structures can continue indefinitely.

“I think it’s a fun way for us to talk about math, but it’s also hands-on,” he said. “Kids can make things and make something.”

After starting the project at Southwest Middle School, he knew he wanted to continue it after moving to the Area Learning Center. And the best way to do that is to make it an art project.

So after the students completed a class with him, he gave them a business card to decorate. After he collects six cards, he creates a cube. Some students contribute one card for one class, while others who take additional classes add more.

“It varies, from one to eight or nine,” he said, adding that the majority he receives from students is from eight to 10.

No tape or staples are added to hold the structure together.

The cube is a way for students to celebrate the end of a class and student achievement and recognize their accomplishments in a memorable way.

Gustafson admits he doesn’t know what he’ll do after the sponge becomes too big to fit on the classroom door, and he doesn’t know of any practical purpose for the sponge other than serving as a visual. idea of ​​looking at patterns, volume. and surface area.

“In mathematics we study fractals to look for patterns and look for repeating, repeating patterns,” he said. “But I think as a structure in and of itself, it is.”

Regardless, the cube doesn’t disappear either, and students have a chance to come back after they leave to see their work.

The cube is also related to the subjects of volume, surface area and infinity, a concept that intrigued him, noting that if a sponge grows to infinity it will have infinite surface area with zero volume.

When students ask how many cards there are, he asks them informally to find out how many cards are on each face and the number of faces covered.

He said that the reaction of the students to the project was positive, as he did not meet a student who did not participate.

Samuel Reyes, a former student of Gustafson who contributed eight cards, first heard about it last year.

“At first I didn’t know what to think,” he said. “But then he talked to me about it, showed me a little bit, and I thought it was really cool how big it could get and how small it is now.”

By Gustafson’s estimate, hundreds of students from his time in middle school and the learning center participated.

After using more than 17,000 cards, he is not even halfway to his goal of having the 50,000 cards needed to complete the Menger sponge, a project he estimates will take nine years in total. to finish.

“I’m just building while the students are getting credits,” he said. “… I don’t know how fast or how slow they get credits, so I can’t say when [it will be completed].”

It takes six business cards to make one box, and he said he ran out of business cards.

“I want to continue this project for the next as many years as I can,” he said.

While he appreciates the donations he’s received, he’s now looking for any old business cards anyone has, whether the company has changed logos or titles, names, addresses or anything else. And he wants to use it when others don’t.

If anyone has business cards they would like to donate, contact Gustafson via email at andrew.gustafson@alschools.org. The texture and color of the cards doesn’t matter. Business cards are usually 9 centimeters by 5 centimeters.

Reyes has informed Gustafson that he will return after the sponge is completed.