heath matthews :: WebQuest
HUD Project
a WebQuest for 8th grade math
[designed by Heath
Matthews]
introduction|task|process|evaluation|conclusion|credits
There is a growing need for
assistance for families who desire to have a home for their children and
families. HUD, or Housing and Urban Development, is responsible for
building homes for underprivileged families and giving them homes that they can
afford and call their own. Builders design homes on paper and even create
small models of their ideas to help other people share in their vision.
Using geometry and some accounting concepts, the students will create an entire
presentation for the HUD organization.
task
Designing a home is a great
opportunity for students to use math and everyday skills to create something
that can be used in regular life. You will also be required to work with a
budget and plan your material usage very carefully. Also, building a model
will give you an opportunity to work with your hands and make something that is
very unique and personal to you as the builder. The most creative and best
presentations from each class will be presented to HUD as proposals for plans of
future homes.
process
The first thing to do is to divide up
into groups for the project. Each group should try to include specific
skills to make the most of the presentation. There is a need for an artist
or someone who draws well for the floor plans, a mathematician to work on budget
and measurements, and someone who is good with their hands to build the model.
These people are not solely responsible for each section of the presentation,
but rather as a supervisor to their particular section. Each person is expected
to participate in every aspect of the project.
There are websites listed in the sections that are available
for you to use to get extra help while you are working on your project.
Here are a couple of books that may also be helpful:
Under Every Roof: A
Kid's Style and Field Guide to the Architecture of American Houses
Math in the Real World of
Architecture: Dimensions,
Quantities, Shapes, and Patterns;
Now, it's time to get to work on your projects!
floor
plans
As a team, the first step in
creating your home is to design it on paper, or the floor plans of the design.
You have specific requirements that must be met in the design of your home.
Your home plans should include:
- exact measurements of each room
- minimum number of particular rooms
- 1 living area
- 3 bedrooms (including closets)
- 2 full bathrooms
- 1 kitchen
- 1-car garage
- house must be under 1800 sq ft.
All of the requirements are a part of the project and are included in deciding
your overall grade on the project. For help on designing your home, you could
visit these web-sites:
http://www.sanford-artedventures.com/play/arch2/#
http://www.archkidecture.org/html2002/floorplan.html
http://www.loggia.com/designarts/architecture/kids.html.
budget
The hardest part of your
project is going to be using a budget. You are going to work with a budget
of $40,000 for the total cost, with materials costing the following:
- concrete foundation - $3 per square foot
- framing materials - $7 per square foot
- insulation - $1 per square foot
- roofing - $5 per square foot
- plumbing (pipes) - $150 per bathroom/kitchen/utility room
- plumbing (sinks/toilets/bathtubs/showers) - $500 per bathroom/$200 per kitchen
- electricity - $2 per square foot
- appliances - $600 per kitchen/$500 per utility room
- labor - $3 per square foot
As you work with your budget, you must make decisions on what to include in the
construction, and if you are to go over, you must make appropriate decisions on
what to cut. But, remember that you are designing a home for a family, and some
things are necessities in the home. Through the project, the best thing to do
is to imagine that you are building a home for your family while you try your
best to stay under budget.
Here is a web-site to help you with your budget:
http://www.mmforkids.org/kids/budget.html.
modeling
Once you have the floor plans
for your home, and your proposal has met the approved budget requirements, now
its time to play. As a group, you are going to build a model of your home. You
can use cardboard, wood, or whatever materials you think would be appropriate
for your model. You do not have to go into great detail, but you do have
recreate your design to the best of your abilities. This is the fun part, and
you should hopefully learn a lot from this part of your project. Any tools that
you may need will be supplied by your teacher and they will be available to give
advice or answer any questions you may
have during the project.
Your will receive two grades on
this project.
:: One grade is your individual grade, which is based on your
participation and attitude during your group work. Your individual grade
will be counted once, and your group grade will be counted twice.
:: Your group grade is determined by your creativity and by following all
guidelines set up in this project. Those guidelines that will be
considered are your total size, or square footage of the house, and following
the budget and not exceeding your allowed cost. Also, the creativity of
your project and the model that you build will also effect your grade (if you
meet the requirements and work as a group, these last two criteria will only
help your grade, not hurt you).
If you work hard on this project, not only will your efforts
be reflected in your grade, but you will also create something that you can be
very proud of. The projects that have the most work put into them may, if
the students wish, be submitted to HUD as actual proposals for a family's
home.
After you have done all of this
work, and put so much time and effort into creating a design for a home, as a
class, we are going to have the opportunity to see the other side of HUD.
With your parents' and t
he
school's permission, we are going to spend a day on site, actually building a
home for a HUD family. It's one thing to have an idea in your head and on
paper, but to actually get to build something for a family is an experience in
its own. Hopefully, when we are all done with this project, you will see a
new side of HUD, and some of you may find that design is something that you want
to do for the rest of your life. Either way, whatever you may take out of
this project is determined by how much you are willing to put into it.
http://images.google.com
http://http://ifs.sc.edu/images/projectpics/C-kids building-ready.jpg
http://www.cs.washington.edu/homes/dougz/attic/money.jpg
http://www.milwaukee.k12.wi.us/masterit/CardBoardModelPicture.jpg
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page last updated 11.25.02
