Introduction - Investigating Walls

A typical stone wall like the one behind your house or school can be seen as many things. A hisorian, artist, scientist, or mathematician, for examaple, may each see it differently. The:

• Historian may see it as part of the built environment, perhaps associated with an old building or road.

• Writer or artist may see it aesthetically, something that evokes feelings, something to be sketched or described.

• Scientist may see it as a rock garden, a local ecosystem, a place where the microclimates and soils are contrasting.

• Mathematician may see the line of the wall, the angle it makes with others, and the shapes and sizes of the stones.

Fortunately, the reality is that any stone wall commanding your attention is really one large thing, though it has separate attributes that attract people with different interests.

Traditional school disciplines -- like the separate attributes of a stone wall -- do not exist. They exist as necessary labels, the means by which we can separate aspects of life in order to focus attention. This component of the SWI curricula, aimed at adults, and students of grades seven and above, takes apart then puts back together different aspects of a stone wall.

We do not provide lesson plans. Rather, we suggest a series of educational activities and opportunities that stone walls provide.

Link to Stone Wall ART

Link to Stone Wall SCIENCE.

Link to Stone Wall MATH .

Link to Stone Wall HISTORY .

Link to Stone Wall GEOGRAPHY.

Link to Stone Wall LANGUAGE ARTS