Creative Learning Approach With Carpet By Werner Braun

Flooring expert Lew Migliore helps teacher
Michael Duncan with a 'sticky' problem

Carpet Helps Teacher Take a Creative Approach to Learning

Carpet and Rug Institute President Werner Braun’s April 1, 2011 column titled "A creative approach to learning" in Dalton’s Daily Citizen  talks about how one local teacher is using carpet as a teaching tool to help his students solve math problems – and how a local flooring expert helped the teacher solve a problem of his own.

The article describes how Michael Duncan, an eighth grade math teacher at Ashworth Middle School in Calhoun, Georgia, used masking tape to make a graph on the carpet in his classroom. A true “hands-on” experience, students use rope and weights to graph linear and non-linear equations. Nifty, wouldn’t you agree?

But there was a problem: Duncan realized he needed to find a piece of material large enough to cover up the 12-by-12-foot graph for the upcoming Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT). According to test rules, everything in a classroom that is considered a teaching material must be covered up during the standardized testing. Duncan knew he must either cover the graph or tear it apart. That’s when, Braun says in the article, Duncan asked CRI for help.

“I remembered seeing a presentation given by Lew Migliore of LGM & Associates on a Velcro carpet protector that attaches itself to the floor. Made from reinforced paper with a thin polyethylene (waterproof) topping and strips of Velcro, the cover can be put down over the tape graph without destroying it. Migliore also shared that the material won’t be a safety hazard because it’s as thin as paper and the end of the material caps to the floor with Velcro.

Migliore visited Duncan’s classroom down in Calhoun and donated enough of the Velcro cover to put down two layers so the kids can’t see any of it. The material is reusable, convenient to store, and Migliore provided the classroom with extra for any future needs.

I’ve seen many examples of innovative and unique uses for carpet, but this tale of Duncan and his interactive graph is quickly becoming one of my favorites. I admire his creative approach to teaching a subject that most kids have a hard time understanding. I’m proud to have had a hand in helping recognize one teacher’s dedication to teaching our children important math standards and keeping them engaged and curious in the classroom.”

Thank you, Werner.

~Bethany