Students at Locust School have found out early that it is not always easy to acquire that dream home.
Working on a project called “From the Ground Up,” 7th-grade students in Nancy Brunner’s accelerated math class researched, designed and built models of their ideal homes.
The goal of the project was to take math concepts out of the text book and allow students to apply them to real situations.
Brunner said the students began with a preliminary house design early last quarter. They studied the use of scale drawings, cost estimation, percentages, geometric configurations, measurement and compasses.
The students also were required to overcome real-life problems such as making changes to stay within a budget and constructing polygons that would fit together to form a roof that would not leak.
After the math concepts were learned, the 7th-graders moved onto their final project–the ideal house.
Each student was first required to make a budget. They had to calculate the cost of material and labor, and estimate the cost of the house.
“That was hard,” said Joey Burrows. “I went a little over budget.” Actually, Joey’s original model would have put him $62,000 over budget. So by removing some of the extras on his triangular home built on posts above a river, he was able to get closer to his original financial plan.
Ryan Dundas learned a little bit about cost estimates too. “My house was really cheap until I put the pool on the roof,” Dundas said. The cost of his humble home went from $33,000 to $45,000 with the addition of that luxury.
Many students were amazed at the things they learned. Jennifer Bachleda found out that choosing the correct lot size is very important. She constructed her island first and later learned that her ideal house was not going to fit on it. Just like real life, Bachleda could not make the island bigger, so the house had to be made smaller.
And Doug Friedlund was challenged by the novel design of his cylinder house. “It was pretty hard to make a roof.” Friedlund said.
Brunner said that the project also brought out the enthusiasm of student’s families.
Nicole Meier agreed. She said that she and her dad put their heads together to come up an unusual house. They decided a gable roof would add an uncommon touch to the house, which also has an indoor pool and stained glass windows.
