How do you dream up your ideal bedroom? With math, of course! Fifth-grade students in Middle School Math Teacher Kristina Jones’ class were able to apply math concepts such as multiplying fractions and decimals, calculating the area of rectangles and transferring that to surface area, scale factoring using equivalent factions, measurement conversations, and more to their designs.
The first step in any project is planning. Students used a circle map to brainstorm ideas to include in their dream bedroom designs and then sketched and drew a rough plan of those ideas in their rectangular bedroom layout. They each had a budget of $45,000 and were given costs such as $150 per square foot for floors and $500 per window (each room required a minimum of four windows).
Blueprints come next, and students were given graph paper with units of one square equalling a half foot and size parameters: No more than 24 feet in length, no more than 12 feet in width, and a total floor area of no more than 260 square feet. After they worked out their floor dimensions, students began designing the ceiling and each of their three walls with a height of less than or equal to 12 feet and with any windows or doors to scale. Why only three walls? After carefully designing their rooms, they hit the makerspace to actually build them! That missing fourth wall enabled them to assemble all the components of their dream bedrooms and share their work with their peers.
Once the blueprints were finished, students then had to determine finishing and materials, calculating their costs based on information such as paint priced at $225/unit (one unit covers 50 square feet), wallpaper priced at $5.50 per square foot, carpet at $6.25 per square foot, and tile at $6.50 per square foot. They used a grid to note surface area, material, amount purchased, and cost. They used worksheet pages to determine the square footage of walls, being sure to subtract areas like windows and doors that don’t require paint or wallpaper. The final step was deciding what furniture they needed in their bedrooms, using sizes to calculate what would fit and where.
«I’ve enjoyed seeing the ‘aha’ moments when something we learned in class, like solving ratios using equivalent fractions, can be applied to the real situation of using scale factor to create furniture appropriately sized for the bedroom,» said Jones.
Then it was time to hit the makerspace! Students enjoyed learning how to use a variety of tools and materials to craft their dream bedrooms. It was a kaleidoscope of color and creativity. Well done, fifth-grade mathematicians!
«It’s amazing how fun this project was, even with all the math,» said Daniel Watanabe Soufen ’32. Ariana Singla ’32 also had a good time while learning. «It really helped me get better at measuring,» she said, «and it was really fun designing my dream room with different tools and objects.»