How Does Math Build a House?
by Jeannette Babiak, Lou Peterson,
Bill Schiesler
|
|
How
Math Builds a House Grant Proposal Project Directors: Jeannette
Babiak, Lou Peterson, Bill Schiesler Total Budget:
$2,517.57 The need for students to experience
mathematics in a contextualized way is becoming more apparent as student
ability to apply mathematics in real-life situations is critically
deficient. Our project integrates the
use of mathematics with the real-life task of designing and building a
house. Throughout this unit, students
have the opportunity to design a home within given parameters such as budget,
family size and cost of living, among others.
Students will utilize math concepts from Algebra and Geometry to
develop and implement their design. Speakers from the community will visit
the classroom to give students feedback on their work. Guest speakers include a mortgage banker,
architect and a home builder. Students
will participate in a field trip to a Habitat for Humanity home build site,
to gain first-hand interaction with various facets of building and the people
involved in this type of project. At the end of the unit, students will
evaluate the impact of this project on their perspective of mathematics and
the real world. Project
Description The
project will begin with the students thinking creatively, without restrictions,
about the type of house that they would like to have built. Once they have
something in mind, the students will work in groups of three to form a master
plan. Students then are restricted to a budget and must also consider various
factors that affect the decision of where to build the house. When
students have decided where to place the house and have considered the
budget, they will then begin to work on a blueprint using SketchUp in the
computer lab. Students will have a deadline on this blueprint so that
students will be ready for an Architect to come examine their work. The
Architect will give students some basic ideas in a lecture and then give
groups individual suggestions. Students will then assimilate the suggestions
into their blueprints. Now
students will have to work out flooring and painting costs for their house,
while trying to maximize their budget. Students will progress to choosing
appliances, plumbing, and types of heating and cooling. Once students have
made all of these budgetary decisions, they may want to revise their
blueprint so can free up money for areas they found lacking. Students, who
have extra time, will add decorations such as artwork and tessellated
wallpaper or flooring. Once all projects have been
finished then there will a formal evaluation of the project and there will be
peer voting for awards such as, most creative, best decorated, etc. Rationale Students lack interest in learning
mathematics because they don’t believe math affects them. Our project
will show students how math is important in everyday life. Students will improve their interpersonal,
mathematical and problem solving skills, while working in groups and with
professional members of the community to learn “How math builds a house.” One of the primary needs for sustaining
life is shelter. Everyone has a place
they call home. Students will engage
in discovering how math was used to build their home. They will calculate perimeter and area in
order to find the amount of material needed for different aspects of
construction (paint, flooring, etc).
Students will find different volumes and surface areas to make
decisions about materials, appliances fixtures and the basic design and how
things will fit into designated spaces.
Students will also engage in scaling and proportion while drawing
their floor plan and building the model of their house. Students will interact with professionals
from their community by inviting architects, contractors, and engineers to
visit the classroom and share their expertise. This exposes students to different
professions that use higher levels of mathematics that might encourage
students to learn more. Students will also be involved in a daylong
field trip in which they will visit and work on a local Habitat for Humanity
site. This will give the students an
opportunity to use the skills they have learned while also giving back to
their community. This experience is a
real world application that includes a chance to volunteer and learn about
service. Through this project, students will develop
an increased belief in their ability to do math, improve their proficiency
with group interactions and communications skills. As students become more
confident in their mathematical abilities, they may be more likely to be open
to continuing their math education, which will benefit us all. Potential
Impact Every
year each teacher will have a hundred students or more in his or her
collective classes. Each of these
students will be positively impacted by the project “How does math
build a house?” The will gain
communication and negotiation skills while working with their group of peers
to meet each goal. By learning more
about different careers that are available in mathematics, there is the
potential that these students may become interested in these roles. This could eventually impact any one that
is affected by their future jobs. The
students will also impact their community when they volunteer at Habitat for
Humanity as part of their project assignment.
This service project could possibly stimulate the students to
volunteer in the future and as the possibility to affect thousands. Each year this project is taught, a hundred
more students are turned on to giving of themselves while also using math to
build a home for someone who needs one.
This is impact. Evaluation
Plan The success of this project depends
entirely on how it impacts student perceptions of mathematics. Most students traditionally think of
mathematics as an isolated subject, with few connections to real-world
applications. If students are able to
see that mathematics played a crucial role in solving real-world problems
throughout their project, then we can consider the unit a success. Students will be asked to evaluate their
perspectives on mathematics prior to the beginning of the project and then
again at the end of the unit. Their
responses will be gathered and evaluated to determine the project’s
success. Project
Calendar Week 1 Day 1 -
Introduction to unit and unit project.
Assign group budgets. Day 2 –
Computer lab day: exploring resources for project. Day 3 –
Guest Speaker: Mortgage Banker. Day 4 –
Lesson: Review of scale drawings and
proportions. Day 5 – Library day: blue print and house plan exploration. Cost of living, weather and crime research. Week 2 Day 1 –
Lesson: Review of Pythagorean Theorem. Day 2 –
Lesson: Review perimeter and
area. Area of irregular lots. Day 3 –
Lesson: Shapes on the coordinate
grid. Placing house footprint on lot. Day 4 –
Lesson: Introduction to surface area
and volume. Day 5 –
Computer lab day: Exploring area and
volume with applet. Week 3 Day 1 –
Lesson: Surface area and volume
continued. Day 2 – Work
day: Finding surface area of wall
space and floor space for paint and flooring costs. Finding perimeter of trim. Day 3 –
Lesson: Surface area and volume
continued. Day 4 – Work
day: Finding volume of rooms and other
areas. Day 5 –
Guest Speaker: Architect. Week 4 Day 1 –
Computer lab day: Find pricing for
HVAC systems, appliances, toilets, tubs, sinks. Day 2 –
Lesson: Transformations, day 1 Day 3 –
Lesson: Transformations, day 2 Day 4 –
Lesson: Transformations, day 3 Day 5 – Work
day: Make final changes to house plans. Week 5 Day 1 –
Lesson: Tessellations –
incorporating artwork. Day 2 – Work
day: Incorporating tessellations into
tiling patterns for home. Day 3 – Work
day: Final budget reviews. Any room for luxury upgrades? Day 4 –
Computer lab day: Microsoft Excel (summaries of areas, material costs) Day 5 –
Guest Speaker: Home Builder. Week 6 Day 1 - Computer
lab day: Final floor plan drawings. Day 2 - Computer
lab day: Groups work on written report. Day 3 - Work day: Groups work on scale model, brochure, Day 4
– Student Presentations Day 5 –
Student Presentations Budget
Jeannette Babiak Phone: (512) 913-4754 Email: jbabiak@austin.rr.com Education The
Teaching
Experience Work Experience Teaching Assistant Aug.
2005 – Present UTeach Program at the Responsible for
assisting professor and students with in-class activities. Responsible for grading homework
assignments and laboratory assignments. Child Protective Services Specialist Jul. 1997 – Feb. 1999 Texas Department of Protective and
Regulatory Services Served as a
conservatorship caseworker for abused and neglected children who were in the
custody of the State of Administrative Assistant Jun. 1995 – Jul. 1996 BRON Research Processed flood certifications for a flood compliance
consulting firm. Performed data entry,
filing, telephone customer service, faxing, and quality control functions. Office Manager Oct. 1992 – Mar. 1996 Performed as the sole individual responsible for running
the day to day business affairs of a small computer consulting firm. Implemented paper and paperless filing
systems; responsible for accounts receivable (including billing and
collections), accounts payable (including business tax reporting), and
payroll (including payroll tax reporting); responsible for purchasing of
inventory; customer service duties; performed some customer training on PC
applications; prepared customer proposals and quotations. Administrative / Clerical Assistant Sep.
1993 – Jan. 1994 Alffran International, Inc. Provided administrative support for an overseas water
purification engineering company.
Organized technical equipment information and entered it into a
database. Lou Peterson Phone: (254) 931-5028 Email: loup@mail.utexas.edu Education The
Teaching
Experience Work Experience Girlstart Team Leader Feb. 2005 – Present UTeach Internship through the Responsible for
leading an eighth grade Girlstart club weekly at Server Aug.
1998 – Present Chuy’s Hula Hut Restaurant
responsibilities, customer service Junior Sales Executive Sept.
2002– Aug. 2004 Matchframe Video in Worked in the sales area of a high volume post production
company. Incharge of billing and
quoting rates for clients as well as overseeing the post porduction process
of each project. William Schiesler 11929A
Sunhillow
512-837-9714 willbds@yahoo.com Education Spring
2003 – present: Currently seeking
B.S. in Mathematics with a
secondary teaching option at The University of Texas. Teaching Experience Spring 2003: Team-taught three 50 minute 3rd grade math lessons. Spring 2003: Team-taught three 50 minute 6th
grade honors math lessons. Spring 2004: Team-taught two three day geometry AP
lessons. Fall 2005: Taught two one day Algebra II lessons. Work
experience
Fall 1997-present: Server/Manager - Mesa Rosa Mexican
Restaurant, Austin TX Duties include overseeing restaurant staff, customer service, opening or closing restaurant, assisting with scheduling, assisting with private parties and general restaurant preparation. |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
