Response By

George McAuley

Photo of wooden sphere teaching aid collapsed and expanded

Albert H. Kennedy Spherical Geometry Teaching Aid, late 1800s

wood and leather Collection of Museum London, 1976

Response

At first glance,
A plain wooden ball,
With leather straps and tacks,
That is seemingly all.

 

But unfurl to reveal,
This myriad miracle.
A mathematical mystery,
With pyramids made spherical.

 

Fashioned in the ‘20s,
By Albert H. Kennedy.
An American manipulative,
Provided students a remedy.

 

Not magical, but practical
And if it is still unclear,
It is an empirical approximation,
For the Volume of a Sphere!

Black & White Photo of George Mcauley smiling on sunny day

George McAuley teaches mathematics at Catholic Central High School, in London. He holds two Bachelor’s Degrees, in science and in education. He also holds a Master’s degree in education, with a focus on anti-racist curriculum. George also coaches high school basketball and football, and is a musician, who began performing with The McAuley Boys in the mid-1990s.