Middletown elementary students blend engineering and math in tiny house project

If you were to walk in to the Makerspace classroom at Macdonough STEM Academy in Middletown, it might look like a normal gathering of students.

However, each group represents their own company.

"Makerspace is design and engineering, and using the engineering design process to solve a problem," Amy Senna, the school's library media specialist, said.

She explains that throughout the six years that a child spends at the school, they take part in different project-based learning tasks based on grade level.

Starting in Kindergarten, "they learn to do the steps of the engineering site design process, which is asking a question, brainstorming ideas, creating a plan and then creating their design and then making improvements as needed."

The fourth graders are creating a tiny house for “clients," made up of members of the Middletown community, weaving engineering and math together to meet a list of needs and wants of their “buyers."

"The group had to then take that information and create a floor plan. And this is where the the STEM comes in, because that's the math piece. So they're doing the perimeter and area and they know what the size of the tiny house is, but they have to fit all these rooms and meet the client expectation."

Students like Lillian embraced – and enjoyed – the challenge.

"The best part was probably planning it out, like, what the where the rooms are gonna be and how big the rooms are gonna be."

Like a real company, students worked together as a team to finalize the best design possible. Working together as a team was less of a challenge and students found it better.

"It would be easier to work in a team because like, you can have teamwork that could help you. You could go faster or quicker," Robby said.

Senna adds, "It's a real world kind of connection of experiencing what it's like to work for someone and try to meet their needs and work as a team and collaborate. But also you have the math with the building and the engineering and design in the stem piece. So it all kind of connects together."

During the process of client meetings, planning designs and preparing for their final presentation, the students also got the opportunity to pick the brain of an actual architect.

If you know of an outstanding student, a passionate teacher or a unique program like this one that deserves a spotlight for STEM – please reach out to rachael.jay@nbcuni.com.