Throughout the year in Miss Samantha Masco’s 8th Grade Introduction to STEM class, students have been learning about the engineering design process by brainstorming, planning, designing, and building tiny houses. Students first began the year learning about the design process and worked through a series of mini-STEM challenges to better understand the process. Students then began learning about tiny houses and the reason many choose that type of living. Students learned about energy efficiency and renewable resources that could be implemented into their home designs. Each class period was given a different amount of square footage for their homes ranging from 250 square feet to 500 square feet. Student groups then began to discuss, plan, and create their home designs. Groups used online tools to generate 3D blueprints and floor plans of what they envisioned their homes to be. Using the equipment in the Makerspace, students began to build scale models of their tiny homes. Students also created furniture and decorations to display as well. Once all homes were completed, students created a marketing campaign which highlighted features of their homes and then pitched their designs to their peers. Mr. Colin Striefsky of REMAX Homes addressed the class explaining what goes into selling a home and how to properly price and market the home for sale. Mr. Striefsky listened to students’ sales pitches and chose the group of Brayden Campbell, Angelina Carey, and Olivia Montaperto as the best home design and sales pitch.
A special thank you goes out to Mr. Colin Striefksy of Remax for judging the competition and providing positive mentorship to the students. Congratulations to these students and Miss Masco on a job well done.
