Apartment Design

Apartment Design

Author(s):

Kristen Drzich
(Lesson plan influenced from: http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/kay_toliver/the_apartment/)

Grade Level:
I’m going to form a lesson plan for a 4th grade curriculum.
Timeframe: Three class periods will be designated to work on the lesson. In the first class session, I will spend fifteen to twenty minutes gaining prior knowledge of the students. Following, I will spend about twenty minutes having a discussion of how area and perimeter play a factor in designing spaces. During the second class session, I will begin explaining our assignment and passing out necessary materials. After everything is passed out, I will allow around thirty minutes for working on the assignment. In the final class period, I will ask the students to meet with their partner and write about their experiences and record the math used. This should take around ten-twenty minutes. Finally, I will have them post their experience and observations on our class webpage. This should take the remaining twenty minutes. If the students need more then the time allotted, I will extend the timeframe to meet the students needs.
Lesson Description or Explanation
Students will be introduced to “The Art Director” video. (http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/hands-on_math/the_art_director/) I believe this video will motivate and engage students for the upcoming lesson. Following the video, I will ask the student’s questions that will help me understand their prior knowledge. After I have an idea of their background knowledge regarding area and perimeter, I will begin the activity. For the activity, students will be asked to work with a partner to design their own apartment. I will supply them with a drawing of an apartment, as well as pre-made furniture pieces and appliances. The apartments they will receive will only have the perimeter walls. I will let the students decide where they want to place the walls, what they want to include in the apartment, and how they want to arrange it. I will also have the students document the mathematical work they did while designing the apartment. After the students have designed their apartments, I will have the students document their experiences and mathematical work on our class website.

Indiana Curricular Standards

4.5.5: “Estimate and calculate the area of rectangular shapes using appropriate units, such as square centimeter (cm2), square meter (m2), square inch (in2), or square yard (yd2)”.

4.5.6: “Understand that rectangles with the same area can have different perimeters and that rectangles with the same perimeter can have different areas”.

ISTE Standards
6. Technology Operations and Concepts
Students demonstrate a sound understanding of technology concepts, systems, and operations. Students: understand and use technology systems.

2. Communication and Collaboration
Students use digital media and environments to communicate and work collaboratively, including at a distance, to support individual learning and contribute to the learning of others. Students: contribute to project teams to produce original works or solve problems.
Assessments
Formative/Summative
Formative Assessment:
For my formative assessment of the students, I will primarily be walking around the room and observing. I will listen to the conversations between partners and observe to see if they are struggling. I will also ask questions during the lesson that will help me get a better understanding of their mathematical thinking. As they are working on designing their apartments, I will look for representations and responses that will demonstrate their understanding. If students are struggling, I will provide remediation or change the pace of the lesson.

Summative Assessment:
Along with assessing the class formatively while they are working on the project, I will have a summative assessment at the end of the lesson. The students will have their completed apartment and post their experiences and mathematical work on the class website. I will use Bloom’s Taxonomy of my learning objectives as a guideline for my assessment.

Knowledge Level: The student will be able to describe how measurement, area, and perimeter are used to design spaces.

Comprehension Level: The student will be able to translate how area and perimeter can be used in the real world.

Application Level: The student will be able to use their knowledge of measurement to figure out how to make the furniture fit comfortably in their apartment.

Analysis Level: The student will be able to identify the components of each shape that are required to make their shapes fit.

Synthesis Level: The student will be able to predict the area and perimeter of one shape in relation to larger and smaller shapes.

Evaluation Level: The student will be able to explain how and why they are designing their apartment the way they did.



Prior Knowledge
In order to obtain my students prior knowledge regarding area and perimeter, I will ask the students several questions. An example of a question I might ask would be: “If we’ve been asked to rebuild our playground, and you could put anything you want in it, what is some of the things you would add?” Then students might say a basketball court, swings, climbing wall, etc. I would make a list of all the answers on the board. After they gave their answers I would then ask, “How do you think we can fit all these things into the space of our playground?” I’m assuming that students would answer “we can measure it, make it bigger, rearrange it, etc.” Following my questions, this will lead into a discussion of how area and perimeter play a factor in designing spaces. I will also show my students the video mentioned previously in order to ignite their thinking about area and perimeter.

Prior knowledge that is expected from the students is the ability to compute area of rectangles and squares, along with the ability to compute perimeter.

Technology

Internet Resources:
• To start off the lesson, I will show a video to the class which will show how an architect uses the concept of area and how it is utilized in constructing a Hollywood set. I will use a video from the Futures channel.com which is located at this link: http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/hands-on_math/the_art_director/
• Students will post their experiences and mathematical work on the classroom website.

Hardware:
• Students will use computers and calculators if needed.
• I will use a DVD player and television to show the video.

Software:
• The Students will use Microsoft Word to write down their experiences and mathematical work.

Procedure
• First Class Period
o I will show the following video to the students to engage them and have them begin thinking about area and perimeter. http://www.thefutureschannel.com/dockets/hands-on_math/the_art_director/
o Students will then be asked to remember their previous lessons in area and perimeter as well as any experience with measurements.
o I will begin by asking the students several questions regarding area and perimeter. An example of a question I might ask would be: “If we’ve been asked to rebuild our playground, and you could put anything you want in it, what is some of the things you would add?” Then students might say a basketball court, swings, climbing wall, etc. I would make a list of all the answers on the board. After they gave their answers I would then ask, “How do you think we can fit all these things into the space of our playground?” I’m assuming that students would answer “we can measure it, make it bigger, rearrange it, etc.”
o Following my questions, this will lead into a discussion of how area and perimeter play a factor in designing spaces.
• Second Class Period
o After our discussion, I will have the students separate into their groups and begin to pass out the envelopes containing all the material needed for the project. The material included will be squares and rectangles that represent typical things found in an apartment which are: beds, night stands, TV’s, couches, loveseats, chairs, coffee tables, plants, bookshelves, desks, kitchen/dinning room tables and chairs, stoves, etc. Included with these will be the perimeter outline of an apartment.
o As I’m passing these envelopes out, I will explain to the students that they are free to design their apartment, as they wish, including placement of walls and arrangement of the furniture.
o I will explain that they need to write down all of the math that they use in their design, and to make sure they record clearly because we will be typing their results and posting them to the class website.
o I will give them the remainder of the class period to design their apartment.
• Third Class Period
o In their group, the students will record the math used while designing the apartment.
o They will also be asked to write down their experiences in designing an apartment.
o I will have the class record their writing in Microsoft Word.
o Next, I will have them post it onto our class website to share it with the class.
o During this time, I will walk around the class and help them with typing and posting their papers.
Differentiated Instruction

ESL By allowing partners for the assignment, ESL learners can receive help and guidance from their peers. They can also access the internet to find an English translation dictionary and/or thesaurus. I would also provide pictures along with the assignment that would help them understand the lesson.

Challenge/Extend
In order to further challenge students in the class, I would have the students compare the area of their apartment to other houses on a block, to a street, to the city, to the state, to the country, and then globally. This will help students’ perception of scale drawings and dimensions. The students can use the internet to help research the areas of other properties.

Special Needs
By allowing partners for the assignment, students with special needs can receive help and guidance from their peers. Also, since the assignment is “open”, students can work at their own pace and learning level. Given that the assignment is “open”, students can also become constructivists. They will be able to build their own knowledge on what area and perimeter are. Each student or group can explore their own learning style to complete the assignment.