Project Adaptation

One of my summer goals was to find a project for each unit of my General Geometry course.  To be honest, I haven't even started searching yet, but I wanted to share how I adapted a project.  I had a simple project idea in mind, and knowing that it was so simple, I was certain that someone else must have done a similar project before.  Yet after searching the MTBoS, I couldn't find a similar project anywhere.

I turned to Teachers Pay Teachers, and the closest thing I could find was this project.  Rather than reviewing area with a basic, boring worksheet, I wanted to do an area review project related to a home floor plan.  I used the layout and furniture pieces provided in the project, changed the premise, and made up different requirements.

The scenario was that the student was renovating their apartment/house.  I did not give students a budget.  Instead it was set up that the landlord is paying for $1,000 of the renovation, and the student would have to make up the rest if they chose to use more expensive materials.  Students had to calculate the area of the walls to paint.  We discussed how different paint colors would change the cost of paint because they would need to buy more cans.  Students also had to calculate the area of floors, decide which type of flooring they would use, and price out the cost of the floors.

Overall, students enjoyed the project.  They spent more time designing the layout of the home than I would have liked, but that was the fun part of the project, so I understood.  The note that I made to myself if I should try this project again is to take the time to better explain painting around the doors and how thick the walls should be.  This is a project that I would repeat again next year.

If you want to see the project outline I provided students, take a look here.