Tiny House - Design

Courses Mathufacturing
Content Area(s) Manufacturing, Mathematics
Grades 9,10,11,12

Instructor(s)
Jerry Eaton, Miguel Mejia

School
Alliance HS @ Meek Campus

Description
Mathufacturing is a Project Based Learning course that was introduced during the online school phase of the pandemic. The pandemic brought with it a time for heightened awareness of the social and racial injustice within the Portland community. The need for housing is at a critical level in Portland. The design process lent itself to greater understanding of the influence of math and manufacturing in this process. The initial course focused on the identification of needs, limitations and culminated with budget and design. Students created a PowerPoint presentation to showcase their final house design. The initial course took place over 12 weeks. This course is continuing with the construction of a small dwelling unit that meets city codes, design and budget requirements.

Syllabus

Project Length
12 Weeks

Project Deliverables
Student Work 1, Student Work 2, Student Work 3, Student Work 4

Reflections

The Tiny House Design project has been, and continues to be, a relevant and engaging projects for students. The project lends itself to additional iterations and takes students into their community through needed engagement with stakeholders and community partners. The project development allows students to cycle through the learning process as they create and test ideas, develop budgets and explore procurement options. By asking students to provide relevant information for future students the project is able to continue with a changing student body. Future classes will have the opportunity to build a shelter that will go out into the community and provide housing for an individual.

One area of improvement would be increased use of CADD for project development and design. The pandemic impacted access to software and student’s ability to learn the modeling and drafting software.