The idea was born out of curriculum training Janelle and Ortiz participated in last summer called Geometry in Construction. The teachers believed that a mini construction project would be ideal to incorporate geometric concepts into a hands-on project this year. Teams of seven to nine students each worked to build their house over the course of the school year. All told, 22 houses were built, including a model built by the teachers.

During the construction process, students learned key concepts needed including how to keep the houses parallel and plumb by using measurements to be sure that the walls were straight and true. The building also required measuring and placement of nails to be sure that the nails did not split the floor and wallboards. They used framing squares to check for perpendicular floors and walls.

Along with building the house, each team also put together a portfolio to document their ideas and decisions about themes and design. The portfolio included three geometric tasks that were integrated into a unit on area and volume:

1. Given the lengths of boards that could be purchased, determine the number of boards that would be required to build one the houses. This included an analysis of waste with the goal of minimizing waste.
2. The surface area of all the pieces were calculated and multiplied by the 22 houses to calculate the amount of paint that would be required to paint all 22 houses.
3. The volume of the house was calculated and scaled to full size using a scale of one inch = one foot to calculate the volume of a similar full-sized house. Then the students researched the size and cost of an HVAC system that would be required to heat and cool the house.

Additionally, the students explored the ides of tessellations where transformations including slides, reflections and rotations were used to design different shapes that could fill a surface without gaps or overlaps. Each student designed an original tessellation. One of the requirements of the designs was that each room needed to have a tessellation used somewhere. In many cases, the tessellations were used as flooring or wallpaper, but they were also produced in pillows, tabletops, rugs, placemats and artwork.

Finally, the students incorporated the idea of scale to design and 3D-print an original piece for their houses using the scale of one inch = one foot. While most of the 3D printed items were furniture, there were some unique pieces created including a disco ball, a hanging swing, poles for a net in an indoor sand volleyball court, a turtle in an aquarium, a rocket ship, a Christmas tree, a hot tub, two penguins holding shelves and an igloo. Janelle estimates that the 3D printers in the libraries were utilized for a combined total of approximately 1000 hours to create all the objects made for the houses.

The houses were completed on March 12 when they were put on display in the Steele Center with the intent of having students vote for their favorites. However, the timing coincided with the school adhering to social-distancing guidelines and moving into online learning. So the contest was moved online as well using photos of the houses instead to allow students to vote on them in key categories:

• Best in Show: Beach House
  Team: Kenna Cashman ’22, Michele Chinn ‘22, Keily Cornejo ‘22, Rosa Holloway ‘22, Wendy Jackson ‘22, Rosie Kent ’22 , Emma Peterson ‘22, Kayla Stolte ’22 and Gabby Wolde ‘22
  
  
• Best Execution of Theme: Intergalactic 
  Team: Patience Adams ‘22, Sophia Bertolone ‘22, Aryana Figueroa ‘22, Kendall Hanson ‘22, Gaby Herrera ‘22, Ellie Mann ‘22, Faith Marsicek ‘22, Roisin Mooney ‘22, Bella Robertson ’22 
  
  
• Best Craftsmanship: Biozones
  Team: Taylor Cipra ‘22, Emma Davisson ‘22, Emilia Fischer ‘23, Lauryn Glenn ‘22, Catie Miller ‘22, Vianca Rivera ‘22, Camila Rodriquez Yanez ‘22, Feliciana Sayers ‘22, Ukari Verner ‘22
  
  
• Child’s Delight: Barbie Dream House
  Team: Makayla Au ‘22, Leila Cali ‘22, Cecily Crowell ‘22, Sophie Dicosola ‘22, Deanna Landry ‘22, Kat Rosabal ‘22, Allie Sanchez ‘22, Olivia Stone ‘22, Emma Weber ‘22

The intent from the beginning was to donate the finished projects. Two of the winning houses—the Beach House and Galaxy House—will be part of this year’s LARK Auction. And once logistics can be determined, the remaining houses will be donated either to the Service Sites we partner with that work with children or to marginalized families with children.

As a final piece of the project, students wrote personal reflections about how taking an applied learning approach impacted their learning. Here are a few of their thoughts about the project:

This project really did enhance the geometry curriculum by adding extra artwork and giving us a distraction. It helped us unleash our creativity and imagination in unique ways. The project helped us also work on our teamwork, people skills and working together. It also helped us learn in a new, hands-on way instead of sitting at our desks.