I wrote several posts about my first adventure into project-based learning.  In case you missed them- Part 1, click here;  Part 2, click here, Part 3, click here.

Just a reminder of the project’s driving question:

As architects, what is the cheapest house we can build to protect the three little pigs from the Big, Bad Wolf?

Now came the part the kids were really excited about…BUILDING!  The material managers came with a list of supplies.  Some were shocked when they looked at the supplies realizing they were missing much needed materials.  One student looked at me and said, “I think our group is going to have to rethink this house plan.” After a few changes in design and recalculating the cost, the groups were ready to begin.

   

 

 

Once the houses were built, it was time for the “Big, Bad, Wolf test,” which was actually a hair dryer on high.  I had drawn a starting line to place the house.  The door had to face the hair dryer. I turned it on low  and then on high. The students had measuring tape (which is another CCS for math) to measure how far the house moved.  All the houses moved!  So the groups went back and planned a way to make the house stronger for test 2.  This also changed the house cost so they had to recalculate again.

Once the house was ready for “wind test” two, we repeated the test and if the house moved, they measured the distance from the starting line.  4 out of 5 houses  moved 0 cm on the second test!  The one house that moved went from moving 100 cm to only moving 8, which was still a great improvement.

This picture captures it all! They were so excited to see the results of the second wind test!

Here are the 5 houses.  I love that they were very different from each other.

 

Part 5, the final post, will be focused on sharing the houses with real estate agents, preparing for presentations for the Three Little Pigs, and also creating flyers and commercials.