A bustling construction site served as a classroom the morning of Sept. 16 when groups of fourth- and fifth-grade students at Lakewood Elementary School donned safety gear to observe the pouring of concrete as a real-life math problem.

The event was made possible through a partnership between American Modular Systems (AMS), Sausal Corporation and Lakewood school during the school's renovation. Thanks to the passage of Measure G last November, Lakewood is currently seeing a $15 million renovation project that is overhauling the entire campus.

Using real blueprints from the project, AMS and Sausal worked with Lakewood staff and students to create the project. On Sept. 16, students estimated the amount and cost of the concrete to be poured that day, and presented their best guesses.

Their child-sized white construction helmets bobbled with excitement as they watched from a safe distance and recorded the event with classroom iPads. Afterward, students returned to their classrooms to compare their estimates to the real amount and cost, as project engineers would do.

"The whole idea was to take advantage of a rare opportunity where the kids could see real-life work taking place," Sunnyvale School District chief operation officer Rob Smiley. "It's kind of a rare side of my job because I'm more on the operational side, but it's nice to get to bring what we do into the classroom as well."

Read more