Year 10 Scale Model Houses

I must admit, I have never had a Vis Com class more engaged with a task, as I did with this one! I had students running to class, exclaiming “MISS!! Where’s the glue!? Where’s the wood!!?? Let’s get started!!”

It was an absolute joy! The students worked in groups of 4 or 5 and had to design a Google Sketch up design first, then create the house using various materials such as Balsa Wood, metalic contacts etc.

The great thing about Sketch up, is it’s super intuitive. The kids learnt so much about the program and they learnt it all independently, with hardly any guidance from me. (Truth be told, I only know a couple of basics)

This project took about 5 weeks of about 3 hours per week. I’ll definitely be doing this again next year, but I think I’ll plan it a little more and use some proper model building materials, such as foam core. The Balsa wood was ok, but it was a little fragile.