Dr. Heigle told me about Google Sketchup. It's a Google application that you can download for free and use to create 3-dimensional models. I was hoping it would be a little more intuitive to use. It took me quite a while to figure out how to construct a fairly simple pyramid, but upon reflection, I think it would be hard to make a program in which constructing a 3-D model would be simple. The third dimension adds a complexity that is kind of hard to simplify. Anyway, I did manage to constuct a square pyramid that I then used to show my geometry class the three right triangles in a pyramid that can be used to find different missing dimensions. It was pretty cool to be able to actually show them this in 3-D. In the past, I've always done my best to draw a pyramid and the inner right triangles, but I've always felt like only the kids who are naturally good at visualization really get it.
Although it took me a while to figure out some of the basics of Google Sketchup, it was really fun! I'm pretty sure I could spend hours on end creating things with it. And it seems to have a lot of really cool features and tools, that I would like to explore if I can find the time. I would like to be able to use Sketchup next year when we do volumes of solids of revolution in my calculus class. There is a Google 3-D warehouse with models that have already been created by other people, so I will definitely be perusing that for good geometry- and calculus-related models.
