Building a House at School

The technology syllabus for this year’s Grade 8 students addresses the real issues faced when constructing a house. Thanks to IIL’s 1to1 iPad policy, students are able to realistically simulate the various phases involved in this type of project.

Students explore the two key phases of construction: analysis of the construction requirements followed by the stages of its actual implementation. Through a series of exercises, students have to deal with life-like problems such as land registers, urban planning and architectural design.

Details such as the chosen construction site, the disposition of the building on the site, the surface and layout of the rooms, the organisation of day and night space, method of heating are all important elements to be considered when analyzing the construction requirements. Available iPad applications such as iThoughtsHD and HomeDesign help with the analysis process and the sharing of ideas.

To begin with an initial draft project on a scale of 1/100 is prepared, showing the proposed floor plan; this is submitted to the commune following which an initial construction plan is prepared. Next, a 1/50 scale plan is prepared, as well as a 3-D model of the building, a virtual guide and the website that documents the entire project is finalized. Again, the applications available for iPads facilitate and enrich the students’ project work: Geoportal for implantation, Keynote. The Macs available in the IT room provide additional power: Architecte3D.

In addition to the skills the syllabus is designed to teach, students learn 2 additional skills essential to education in the 21st century:

Collaboration: students work in groups using tools based in the cloud;
Communication: all documentation is collected and kept in one website which is regularly updated.

Students’ project work is evaluated based on the website, the log book that the student maintains throughout the project and documentation created in the analysis and implementation phases.

This project was developed by our technology teacher, Mr Philippe Maigre and was presented at the iPad Summit held in Montreal on 30th April 30 and 1st May 2015.

Contact :

p.maigre[at]iil.ch

Liens :

iThoughtsHD : http://toketaware.com/ithoughts-ios/

HomeDesign : https://itunes.apple.com/ch/app/home-design-3d/id955414427?l=fr&mt=12

Geoportail : https://itunes.apple.com/ch/app/geoportail/id748345888?l=fr&mt=8

Architecte3D : http://www.architecte3d.com/version-mac