Dream House Unit, Making Geometry Pop!

[Ryan Sullivan]

Hello everyone!  My name is Ryan Sullivan a student at Aurora University hoping to teach high school math one day.  The reason for my post is that I have to create a unit for a class to try and make geometry pop!  Certain students enjoy the subject but far too many do not.  As math teachers know they have a tough job to try and get those that aren’t interested excited about math.  My idea for the unit is to have the students create a dream house for their favorite celebrity, or they students can pretend they are in the shoes of that celebrity and have access to the money the celebrity of their choosing makes.  The celebrity can include an actor or an actress, sports star, TV host, etc.. 

They will be given and certain sized plot, but will be able to pick anywhere in the United States as to where to build this house.  The main concept of my idea is to use geometry to design the building given the land restrictions, take into account the building costs and what materials they plan to use, furniture, and any other “luxuries” they plan to purchase.  After building the house and anything they plan to put on the land area they will present it to their classmates and the group that maximizes costs the best, (trying to still take into account the current economy), will receive some extra credit points.  I’m thinking about giving the students a lot of freedom with this presentation, they can build the house and bring that into the class and show it, they can create a video along the lines of the TV show “MTV Cribs” and put that on video to show to everyone in the class.  This is just a very rough start and I am open to any thoughts and suggestions anyone may have.  Thanks for reading and any help in advance. 

Here are some resources I've found already through searching the Ning:

How to Organize a Design Project for Your Class

Math Literacy

Lego Builiding

Some other resources that I have found outside the Ning on the Internet are:

Using a computer game most kids are very familiar with.

Idea from real life TV Show.

 

Sincerely,

Ryan Sullivan

[MariaD]

This is a great project, and I am sure students will find it fulfilling. Your resources rock, too! I have a suggestion about the subject: does it have to be a celebrity? Maybe you can formulate something like "your hero" which may include lesser-known, but personally significant people. Examples may include celebrities, writers, scientists, and maybe even fictional characters.

[Anne Gaspers]

Have you thought about using Webkinz as an intro point? (www.webkinz.com) Elementary school age kids are all about it and get to add crazy creative things to their rooms for their animal pets. They also play games to earn money to "buy" items. It might be a fun way to make connections to pop culture that kids know.

[Ryan Goble]

Here are a few "meh" lesson plans on the topic that may give you some ideas:

lesson plan 1 on the topic that may give you some ideas.
lesson plan 2
lesson plan 3 is a bit cooler - as it allows you to Design a House With Frank Lloyd Wright
Lesson 4
A final project + this one in need of heavy remixing.
Lesson 5
Lesson 6

This webquest is one of the strongest models I saw. Lots of solid scaffolding and literacy stuff to work with here.

Plus an interesting article on the topic.

You might also look for some cool software for them to rock their final project on like this site http://www.floorplanner.com/

RRG:)

[Ryan Sullivan]

Thanks Maria, Anne and Ryan for all the help! I like the suggestions made and will definately take them into account and use some of the resources that you provided. Thank you for reading and responding to my post.