Spaghetti Connects to the U.S. Revolution? Bloom Class Shows How

Bloom High School U.S. History teacher Eric Deasy and his class have explored some innovative approaches to learning in the virtual space.

First, the class got in the spooky spirit when learning about the Salem Witch Trials in October.
People experienced strange symptoms in Salem, Massachusetts in 1692 and students of the class were teamed up to be detectives to solve the case. The students examined evidence to support three theories of why there was such strange behavior. To cap it all off, creepy music and spooky backgrounds set the mood.

In another unique approach to learning, students learned about the tension leading up to American Revolution… with spaghetti.

To demonstrate how there were many causes to the war—stemming from increasing tension between the colonists and the British—Deasy taped a piece of raw spaghetti between two desks and hung a plastic cup from it. Slowly, he added more and more quarters and students chatted their guesses about how many it would take before the piece of spaghetti snapped (it was much more than students expected. The class then used the metaphor to study increasing tensions between the colonists and the British and wars in general.

See video of the experiment here.

“From the very beginning we knew spaghetti was going to snap, and as historians we knew the American Revolution was going to happen,” Deasy said to his class. “What we’re going to look at is, what were the reasons for the tension between the colonies and the British.”

As the school navigates a virtual school year, many Bloom educators are finding unique and compelling ways to keep students engaged, learning and eager to participate.