Odenville Middle School students build Menger Sponge

Have you ever heard of a Menger Sponge?It's what's known as a "fractal" -- or a never-ending pattern. Students at Odenville Middle School have created a Menger Sponge from scratch, using business cards to make a cube. The end result is six foot by six foot made up of{}8,000 cubes.These middle school students are the only ones in the world to achieve this feat. These students learned about surface area, multiplication, symmetry. But, what these students really learn is beyond the boundaries of math and science. Lacey Pierson is a sixth grader at Odenville Middle School. Her lesson, building a Menger Sponge takes hard work and determination.{}"This teaches you persistence, because it is frustrating sometimes," said Pierson. A Menger Sponge is a three dimensional fractal,{}a{}never-ending pattern, made from cubes attached together. This Menger Sponge comes together in three different levels.{} A "level three" Menger Sponge is made up of 8,000 cubes. Jessica Varden and classmates worked six months to build it.{}"We came up here on Saturdays, we stayed after school. We just worked until it got done," said Varden.In theory, a Menger Sponge can multiply into infinity.{}"No matter how far you zoom in or how far you zoom out, it's a self repeating structure," said Jim Wilder who supervised this project.Wilder believes this Menger Sponge taught more than math and science.{}"It helped build a mathematical culture. They were working with math but they were also working with each other. They were problem solving. They were brainstorming."

ODENVILLE - AL — undefined