Durham Intermediate Students Become Young Architects

Sixth graders at Durham Intermediate have been busy working as electrical contractors, building inspectors, and real estate agents. All the jobs were part of their annual Architecture project.  Integrating geometric concepts like area and perimeter, the students created scale drawings of rooms at their house and calculated median home prices for cities across north Texas. The sixth graders also formed 3D apartments and sketched isometric drawings.  They then learned how to inspect houses for building code violations and how to properly place outlets, lights, switches, and windows. Each three-person architecture team combined these concepts to design a scale drawing of their dream home complete with a landscape, home flyer, and company logo.

The Architecture unit is part of project-based learning in sixth grade math at Durham. Other units include Fantasy Football, Hunger Games, Food & Restaurants, and RMS Titanic. Project-based learning gives students the opportunity to incorporate math concepts in a real-world, hands-on approach that involves critical thinking, problem solving, and collaboration.