Dream House Million Dollar Project Unit

Created Feb. 7, 2024 by STEMToolkit Administrator

Project Overview

This project is meant to be cross-curricular, requiring students to utilize many instructional skills to complete each step. Such skills will include number sense to one million, addition and subtraction to one million, area/perimeter/scaling, 3-D design, and opinion writing/advertising. The project could be completed in sequential order, completed as isolated projects or hand selected for which components are used in your classroom.

Research with Number Manipulation

Timeframe:	40-60 Minutes for instruction, 3-5 days for completion
Big Ideas and/or Essential Questions:	Students will build their “Dreamhouse” spending a budget of $1,000,000 Utilizing their budget, students will add/subtract to utilize their entire budget in “purchasing and furnishing” their dream home. Students will research what rooms are included in a house, what are must-have features, real costs of the furnishings and itemization of each room. The teacher has a choice to scaffold budget, level of furnishing (new build or move in ready) or choosing if the purchase of a house is included in the budget. Use a powerpoint/keynote/slides file to include pictures, expenses, a budget for each room of your dream home. Lesson Goal: Students will utilize basic research skills, number sense to one million, basic operation skills to one million, and culminating expenses of all included rooms in their house. EQ- How would you spend $1,000,000 to furnish your dream home?
PA Standards:	CC.2.1.4.B.1 CC.2.1.4.B.2 CC.1.4.4.V
Learning Target(s):	I can add and subtract numbers up to $1,000,000 Manage a budge. Identify parts of a house (rooms and materials) Organize data
Materials:	Powerpoint software, general internet connected device.
Activity Procedures:	Offer for the students to search for a picture of their "dream home" and add it to the cover of their slideshow. After creating their title slide and including their selected picture, have the students create a slide for every room they would include in the dream home.. For each room, have the students list the parts of a room, including a picture of a model room or each included materials. (Such things as tables, electronics, sinks, etc.) Students will use research skills to identify the cost of each included item and take the price to build the overall room cost. Students will compile the total cost of each room on the final slide which should equal $1,000,000
Assessments:	The final slide has each room listed with individual cost. Included is a total cost. Students get a grade based off distance from spending their budget of $1,000,000

Area/Perimeter/Scale through Blueprint Design

Timeframe:	40-60 Minutes for instruction, 1-2 days for completion
Big Ideas and/or Essential Questions:	Students will create a blueprint design for a house. Students will lay out necessary rooms in their house with consideration of general layout and size. Students will develop skills in perimeter and area for the size of each room/their entire house. Students will introduce themselves to scaling by identifying what each square unit should be increased to for a real-world connection. *If building off previous activity, students must include all rooms that they included in their slide deck from the previous activity. Lesson Goal: Students will utilize a signal piece of graph paper to build a blueprint of a home. They will use this layout to identify room and house area/perimeter/scaling. EQ- What would the layout of your dream home look like?
PA Standards:	CC.2.4.4.A.1, M04.D-M.1.1.3 CC.2.3.3.A.1, M04.D-M.1.1.3
Learning Target(s):	Area Perimeter Scaling Identify parts of a house Organize data
Materials:	Graph Paper
Activity Procedures:	Hand out a piece of graph paper to all students in your class. The students are to look through their slide show and include every room in their blueprint design. Display example blueprints to provide a model for student work. When the students have completed their model, they will go back to identify the area and perimeter of the entire house, as well as each individual room. Include this information within each room. Using either a teacher selected sq unit amount, students will compare their area to the “real” number to determine a general scale of each unit. *If a teacher is doing this as an isolated project, the teacher can support students by choosing a picture as the model, list the rooms that should be included in the blueprint, or not require all of the mathematical computation for each room.
Assessments:	The final blueprint will include all required components outlined in the procedures above. Numerical information will be checked for accuracy.

Geometry with 3D Design

Timeframe:	40-60 Minutes for instruction, 2-3 days for completion
Big Ideas and/or Essential Questions:	Utilizing the free software Tinkercad, the students will design a blueprint of a house through 3-D design. Students will manipulate 3-D shapes to recreate the blueprint of their home design. Lesson Goal: Students will utilize basic 3-D design and geometry to build a blueprint model of their perfect home. EQ- How would you use geometric shapes to recreate a blueprint model of a home.
PA Standards:	M05.C-G.2
Learning Target(s):	Manipulate 3-D shapes to recreate a 3-D model of a blueprint design.
Materials:	Access to a device to run Tinkercad, a free 3-D design software.
Activity Procedures:	Make sure that learners have access to a blueprint design (either their design or teacher provided).. Using Tinkercad and a clear workspace, guide students to add a floor layer shape (rectangle prism with a minimal height). Utilize adding on shapes or holes to replicate the perimeter of their blueprint. After showing learners how to build the perimeter floor, guide them on how to make a wall. After this point, the students should be able to complete building exterior and interior walls. If students finish early, they can extend their project by building doorways, windows, etc. * If you have access to a 3-D printer, print out the models for each student project. If you do not have a printer, have the students take a screenshot and include it into their project slides.
Assessments:	The final project should include a blueprint that replicates their created blueprint or teacher provided model. Further assessment can be generated by general 3-D Printing success when turned into a physical model.

Culminating Project - Build the Replica

Timeframe:	~40 Minutes for instruction, 2-3 days for completion
Big Ideas and/or Essential Questions:	Students will build their “Dreamhouse” based out of homemade materials. Students will create a module home utilizing the blueprint as the general guideline for the project. Lesson Goal: Students will utilize basic materials to create a model version of their dream home. EQ- Using your homemade materials, can you make your own version of your dream home?
PA Standards:	S4.A.3.2.2
Learning Target(s):	Manipulate a bluetooth design to recreate a 3-D model using homemade materials.
Materials:	Up-cycled materials, glue, general arts, and crafts materials
Activity Procedures:	Using homemade materials, students will replicate their model home. They will generate the exterial and internal model and design it to their replica
Assessments:	Students will be assessed based of their transition from the blueprint on paper and 3-D design compared to their physical model.

Be the Real Estate Agent

Timeframe:	~30 Minutes for instruction, 1-2 days for completion
Big Ideas and/or Essential Questions:	Students will create a for-sale adverstisement for their dream house. Students will generate a one-sheet overview of the house, to be distributed to prospective buyers about their dream home. Students will verbally advertise their dream home presentation to prospective buyers. Lesson Goal: Persuade prospective buyers (other students viewing this project) to select their house for best overall house, best use of budget, or best physical materials. EQ- How could you persuade a potential buyer to purchase your home?
PA Standards:	CC.1.4.4.ICC.1.4.4.K
Learning Target(s):	Write a persuasive piece to convince prospective buyers to purchase their home. Defend their product as prospective buyers participate in an “Open House”.
Materials:	Computer writing program
Activity Procedures:	Students will compile their information to build a one-page advertisement overviewing the features of their home. After scheduling for other classes to participate, the class will host an “open house” event showcasing all portions of this project. The prospective buyers will walk through the open house with a voting slip, where they will vote on the best use of budget, overall design, and which house they would like to purchase.
Assessments:	Students will be graded on based off the materials they have complied for the open house. They will also be graded based off the votes that they received for the open house activities.

StartSOLE

StartSOLE is a simple inquiry-based approach that can be implemented in a single class period with minimal constraints and serves as an excellent addition or supplement to this lesson. If you'd like to use one of these suggested questions to encourage students to dig deeper or help prepare them for this activity click on a link below to setup your StartSOLE lesson: