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Project Abstract
In this project, students created and designed a sustainable building to fit into the San Diego landscape. They studied and researched the effects of global warming and the present need for sustainable buildings. They also explored various types of architecture throughout San Diego. Lastly, students learned how to design and build sustainable buildings and then created their own.
The essential questions for this project were:
How can architecture reflect the history and culture of the area that it is in?
What makes a building sustainable?
Why is it crucial to our future to build sustainable buildings?
How do function (purpose for the building) and form (the art and design) combine together to make a building?
How is math (specifically geometry) used to create architectural designs to scale?
Major Products & Deliverable:
portfolio binder documenting all their work in this project
3D sketches of furniture and 3D model of furniture
blueprints, exterior 3D sketches of building all drawn to s
What did you teach and how did you teach it?
Content
As a class, students started off the project by discussing global warming and its effects on the environment and the need for sustainable buildings to help ease these environmental problems (which were explored fin more detail later on in the project) by watching and discussing An Inconvenient Truth and articles on sustainable buildings.
Students then spent time in Architecture School and received class lectures on how to use trigonometry to find angles and lengths of triangles and on the properties of gas (to be used in our discussion of the science behind global warming) and specific heat capacity -- the ability of materials to store/release heat (so they could make conscious, scientific decisions about the materials to build their homes with).They also discussed global warming in depth -- how it works, what it could do to our Earth -- and how buildings are the biggest contributors to global warming through class and group discussions and Socratic Seminars. In this project, students researched online techniques that they could use in their every day lives to make buildings more sustainable and created presentations to use while they taught their peers.
After Architecture School, we addressed architectural design principles and the idea of combining function of objects and form together by having students study the designs at our school and assessing the needs of the campus. Students then designed and built furniture models based on their observations as practice for their sustainable buildings.
Lastly, we studied San Diego Architecture. We learned the history behind four historic San Diego areas by reading excerpts from books and visited these neighborhoods as well -- Old Town, Balboa Park, Gaslamp District and Coronado. Students then designed a building that fit into the architecture of San Diego that was sustainable using the techniques they had researched about. They also had the option of building a 3D model of their home.
The academic standards covered were:
Geometry
8.0: Students know, derive, and solve problems involving the perimeter, circumference, area, volume, lateral area, and surface area of common geometric figures.
9.0: Students compute the volumes and surface areas of prisms, pyramids, cylinders, cones, and spheres; and students commit to memory the formulas for prisms, pyramids, and cylinders.
10.0: Students compute areas of polygons, including rectangles, scalene triangles, equilateral triangles, rhombi, parallelograms, and trapezoids.
11.0: Students determine how changes in dimensions affect the perimeter, area, and volume of common geometric figures and solids.
19.0: Students use trigonometric functions to solve for an unknown length of a side of a right triangle, given an angle and a length of a side.
Chemistry
4. The kinetic molecular theory describes the motion of atoms and molecules and explains the properties of gases. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a. Students know the random motion of molecules and their collisions with a surface create the observable pressure on that surface.
b. Students know the random motion of molecules explains the diffusion of gases.
c. Students know how to apply the gas laws to relations between the pressure, temperature,
and volume of any amount of an ideal gas or any mixture of ideal gases.
d.Students know the values and meanings of standard temperature and pressure (STP).
e.Students know how to convert between the Celsius and Kelvin temperature scales.
7.Energy is exchanged or transformed in all chemical reactions and physical changes of matter. As a basis for understanding this concept:
a.Students know how to describe temperature and heat flow in terms of the motion of molecules (or atoms).
b.Students know chemical processes can either release (exothermic) or absorb (endothermic)
thermal energy.
c. Students know energy is released when a material condenses or freezes and is absorbed when a material evaporates or melts.
d.Students know how to solve problems involving heat flow and temperature changes, using known values of specific heat and latent heat of phase change.
f. Students know there is no temperature lower than 0 Kelvin.
Differentiation
The project is designed to allow differentiation of choice and skill level for all academic levels. Each group decided on their own how they would design and build their sustainable building. With the teacher's input, they also made decisions on how complex and rigorous their project would be.
Learning Goals
Students will know:
what global warming is and why we must find ways to curb it
what makes a building sustainable
how math and science are used in architectural designs
Students will understand:
the science behind global warming (how the atmosphere warms the Earth and how greenhouse gases/pollution affect the Earth)
different ways that people have used to cut down their carbon emissions and to conserve energy in their buildings
that function (the purpose of a piece of architecture) and form (the architectural designs and trends found in a neighborhood or surrounding area already) must both be taken into consideration when designing architecture
Students will be able to:
use trigonometry to find angles and lengths of triangles
find the specific heat capacity of a particular material
use Google Sketchup to create blueprints and 3D sketches
accurately draw models to scale using math and units
construct 3D models based on scale drawings
Methods of Instruction
class lectures
reading articles and discussing the content through class discussions and Socractic seminars
online research
peer-to-peer instruction
community speakers
field trips
collaborative product creation
What concepts and skills did the students gain in this class through this project?
From this project, students learned what global warming is and why we must find ways to curb it, what makes a building sustainable and how math and science are used in architectural designs.
After this project, students were able to explain the science behind global warming (how the atmosphere warms the Earth and how greenhouse gases/pollution affect the Earth, how the behavior of gases change based on various factors). They were able to list different techniques to use in their every day lives and around the house to cut down their carbon emissions and to conserve energy. Lastly, students could design furniture or building that combine function (the purpose of a piece of architecture) and form (the architectural designs and trends found in a neighborhood or surrounding area already).
Some skills that students gained from this project were as follows: using trigonometry to find angles and lengths of triangle, finding the specific heat capacity of a particular material, using Google Sketchup to create blueprints and 3D sketches, accurately drawing models to scale using math and units and constructing 3D models based on scale drawings.
How is the curriculum for this project academically rich and grade-level challenging?
The project is designed to allow differentiation of choice and skill level for all academic levels. Each group decided on their own how they would design and build their sustainable building incorporating the science and math skills they learned through the project. With the teacher's input and knowledge of student skill levels, they also made decisions together on how complex and rigorous their building design would be, which allowed all students to be challenged at their own level.
To what extent was there integration across disciplines in your class through this project?
The interdisciplinary aspects in this project were:
Math/Chemistry
Other subjects that can be incorporated into this project:
History
English
Art
Which Habits of Heart and Mind (HoHM) and Design Principles were utilized in this project?
The Habits of Heart and Mind incorporated in this project were:
Evidence
Perspective
Refinement
Cooperation
Perseverance
Mindfulness
Compassion
The design principles were:
Personalization
Adult-World Connection
Common-Intellectual Mission
How did you incorporate refinement through this project?
Students conducted peer critiques and made refinements at the following stages of the project:
after designing their initial furniture sketches
after building their initial furniture model
after designing their initial building sketches
after creating their initial building models
Teacher Reflection
Our actions as humans have such a big effect on our world, and we must be conscious of what resources we choose to use and how we use or conserve them. Since buildings are the biggest carbon emitters in the US, it is crucial to find ways to cut down on the amount of greenhouse gases that are released and implement strategies to reduce the amount of energy that is used. This project was the last big one we did for the year and students really got into it because they were able to find ways to change their lives and actions to cut down on their carbon footprint and they were also able to unleash their creative side and design buildings that were not only interesting aesthetically but sustainable as well. At the end of the project, we held an exhibition at a coffee shop where students were able to display their blueprints, designs and 3D models -- and I could tell they were all proud of the work they had done.
This was my first time doing this project and I definitely want to use most of it again because I am happy with how the products turned out. However, I will streamline the project more and allow for more time to brainstorm, critique and build the 3D models and find ways to incorporate more math content into the project as well.
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