Mrs. McKotch and Mrs. Shelley took their applied geometry class to Home Depot this fall as part of their "Dream Home" project.
Students began their project by designing the home of their dreams. After drawing a scale version of their floor plan, students headed out to Home Depot to research the different types of flooring and paint that are available for purchase. Scott, the paint department manager, showed everyone how the paint color was mixed and explained that the colors are added based on ratios dependent on the color chosen.
A discussion of which types of paint cover best and what the necessary materials are for painting also took place. Once back in the classroom, the students put into practice their knowledge of area and perimeter to determine how much flooring and paint would be necessary for their houses.
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The final project included each student's floor plan, calculations of flooring and paint, as well as costs of all materials (this was a real eye-opener for most of them), floor and paint samples, along with a self-assessment where each of the pupils talked about what they had learned and how it would benefit them later on in life.
Thanks goes out to everyone at Home Depot who assisted us while we were there; our learners were able to ask questions and gain much insight from the employees at our local store.