The House that Maths Built
An ambitious idea
What if Year 7 students built a house?
Not an actual house, but a model house utilising scaled-down building standards1 - all while developing maths-confidence, knowledge and skill?
Practical ✔ Creative ✔ Maths-learning ✔ Fun ✔
Foundations
Embracing Neurodiversity with The Safe Houses Framework by Valli Jones2 advocates a neurodiversity-affirming approach which can be implemented in the classroom.
In addition, model house construction is underpinned by Aboriginal learning techniques described by 8 Ways3:
Story sharing - talking to students during activity times, sharing stories;
Community links - relating construction to the community and the homes in which students live;
Learning maps - use of construction plans;
Non-verbal - demonstrating how to complete activities; using hands to make materials;
Symbols and imagery - use of building symbols in schematics; using graphs; house as extended metaphor for safe space in learning and at school;
Deconstruct/reconstruct - the teacher breaking down the maths concept, and students literally re-building those concepts in a scale model;
Land links - acknowledgement of the local Aboriginal peoples and the land on which the model house will stand; using recycled materials to model sustainable practices;
Non-linear - problem-solving, innovative thinking and collaboration.
These two factors comprise the conceptual underpinnings of The House that Maths Built because safe classrooms designed with First Nations and neurodiverse students front-of-mind, help all students.
A model house fulfils the functions of:
Giving all students the opportunity for collaborative inquiry-based learning;
Allowing ample opportunity to connect with theoretical maths-learning and each other via the expertise of the teacher;
Provides practical examples, increasing student disposition to maths;
Incentivises maths-learning through fun;
Allows creative expression, and problem-solving;
Is complex enough to extend for the entire year;
Allows students with additional needs to work alongside their peers in meaningful ways.
Building Infrastructure
Year 7 represents the first year of high-school and given NAPLAN testing, is the best cohort for delivering a program of study which increases student disposition towards maths.
Students will use consensus to inform design and construction decisions, with all students able to contribute to an inclusive house. This inverts a hierarchical system of learning, to a horizontal and collaborative process; an exercise in maths-humility.
Ideally, maths-confidence in year 7 will continue into high school with demonstrated improvement by NAPLAN testing in year 9. As stated in a previous blog post, it is hypothesised that maths-learning will have a positive spill-over impact across all subject areas.
The Rough-in
Consider the following hypothetical scenario:
A high school with 10 different year 7 maths classes at 25 students per class;
Each math class has 3 lessons per week;
A guaranteed TAOO3.1 maths teacher aide or collective of rotating specialised teacher aides; who will work on The House that Maths Built with students for 1 lesson per week;
A school day with 4 periods per day.
The following timetable shows one way it could work:
A typical class might look like:
Teacher introduction (5 mins);
Teacher explicit instruction (15 mins);
Class split into 3 random groups;
Teacher works through problems with 2/3 of the class;
Teacher aide works through activity with 1/3 of the class;
Groups rotate until the end of the class.
If construction work is unfinished, students are able to come to maths tutorial room during lunchtime to work on their model - subtly familiarising students with maths assistance early in their high school journey.
The Fit-Off
Here are a few ideas to connect House-building and maths:
Roof tiles - gradients
Buying materials - pricing, square metreage, rounding, addition/subtraction
Tiling - tessellations, repeated patterns
Bricklaying - ratios for mortar
Building frame - measurement, fractions, percentages, decimals
Truss roof - triangles, angles
Floor plan - coordinates on a Cartesian plane “floor plan”
Port Window/Round Rug - circumference, radius, diameter
Paint - average coverage, estimation
Plumbing - volume of pipes, probability of overflow
Concrete foundations - volume of concrete, measurement, estimation
Students will use recycled and reclaimed materials for model construction, in order to embed sustainability cross-curriculum priorities.
Potential collaboration opportunity with wood shop teacher/aide.
The Naming
At the end of the year, invite students and families to an event which showcases all of the different houses built by students. Ensure students collectively name the houses and can describe the maths concepts built into each.
Invite industry guests who - ideally - would have provided information, advice and expertise throughout the year on model house construction.
Reflect on the collaborative growth of the class now, and into the future; as a community of learners.
As always, comment below or email me at teacheraideqld@gmail.com
backoftheclassroom.substack.com
With thanks to Jack Morton and Gympie State High School for their work on improving student disposition towards maths, which sparked the idea for this blog post.
Thanks Rob Pensalfini for the recommendation!
With thanks to Julie Jakins and TAFE QLD for setting the assessment which challenged the author to incorporate Aboriginal learning techniques into teacher aide practice.