Tiny Home Design Curriculum
6-8th Grade Visual Arts | 10-15 Hours
Unit Summary: Students will explore Nashville’s growing need for affordable housing and tiny homes as a way to address the issue. In groups modeled after career roles, they will design and build a 3D model of a tiny home to help add more affordable housing to their school’s neighborhood.
Universal Concept/Big Idea
Affordable Housing
Enduring Understanding
The equitable distribution of limited resources supports the overall health, well-being and resilience of people and places.
Driving Question
How can I use design to provide housing for people in need?
Field Trips
For “Day 2: Tiny Home Field Trip (Enrichment),” plan a field trip to visit tiny homes in Nashville. Reach out to the Civic Design Center if you would like recommendations for tiny home locations.
For “Day 3: Tiny Home Location (Enrichment),” plan either a walking, bus, or virtual tour through your school’s neighborhood.
Guests
For “Day 8: Architect Guest Panelist (Enrichment),” schedule an architect to come and talk to your students about their career.
For “Day 9: Critique (Enrichment),” schedule a guest to give your students feedback on their design projects.
Unit Preparation
Materials
Card stock with scissors and tape will be needed for form models or another modeling material such as clay.
11x17 grid paper with ¼” squares will be needed for floor plan layouts.
Decide what materials you want your students to use to build their scale model. Consider asking students to bring recycled materials from home, such as cereal boxes, shoe boxes, or cardboard.
Unit Overview
-
-
This lesson begins by building awareness of Nashville’s affordable housing problem and empathy for those it impacts. Then, students are introduced to tiny homes as one of many ways to provide more affordable housing. Through a gallery walk, students are introduced to a variety of designs for tiny homes and analyze which designs they like and why.
-
Arrange a field trip to visit tiny homes in Nashville. On the field trip, students should observe design elements such as form, materials, and space layout.
-
Students will tour the neighborhood around their school in search for a location for a tiny home village. The tour can be done by walking, taking a bus, or virtually on Google Maps.
-
Students will learn how architects begin designing buildings by modeling different forms. They will get into their groups for the project and assign roles. Then, they will work together to model different forms for their tiny home and decide on a final one.
-
Students will explore different building materials that are affordable, environmentally friendly, and visually appealing. They will collaborate with their group to decide on one material and create a sketch of what their tiny home material will look like.
-
Students will learn what a scale factor is and practice drawing objects to scale on graph paper. Then, they will work in their groups to draft a floor plan to scale of their tiny home design.
-
Students will work collaboratively to make a life size tape drawing of their floor plan draft. They will reflect on their layout and update their floor plan.
-
Students will generate questions for an architect and then interview them as a class.
-
In groups, students critique each other’s projects using provided constructive criticism sentence stems. They will reflect on their feedback and determine what revisions need to be made before starting on their final products. This is a great day to bring in a guest to give student’s feedback.
-
Students will have 4 days to work on final products for their tiny home, which include the following: written artist statement, 3D model, exterior drawings, and final floor plan. Each day, they will create a work plan that assigns different tasks to different group members.
-
Students will work in their groups to submit their artwork to the Design Your Neighborhood Youth Voice Competition and practice their presentation. They will individually complete a project reflection.
-
Each group will present their tiny home and evaluate their peers on their presentations. Then will end the unit by taking the Design Your Neighborhood post-survey.
-
Content + Standards
TN State Standards
-
6.VA.Cr1.A Combine concepts collaboratively to generate innovative ideas for creating art.
6.VA.Cr1.B Investigate personally relevant content for creating art.
6.VA.Cr2.A Experiment with new ideas, materials, methods, and approaches in making works of art and design,
using course specific craftsmanship.
6.VA.Cr2.C Design or redesign objects, places, or systems that meet the identified needs of diverse users.
6.VA.Cr3.A Reflect on and revise personal artwork to convey intended meaning.
6.VA.P2.A Individually or collaboratively, develop a plan to display works of art that includes
analyzing the exhibit space, while considering the audience.
6.VA.P3.A Explain how an exhibition in a traditional or emerging presentation space reflects the history and values of a community.
6.VA.R3.A Develop and apply relevant criteria to evaluate a work of art.
-
7.VA.Cr1.A Apply formal and informal methods to overcome creative blocks.
7.VA.Cr2.A Persist in developing skills with various materials, methods, and approaches in creating works of art or design using course specific craftsmanship.
7.VA.Cr2.C Apply visual organizational strategies to design and produce a work of art, design, or media that clearly communicates information or ideas.
7.VA.Cr3.A Reflect on and explain important information about personal artwork in an artist statement or another format.
7.VA.P2.A Based on criteria, analyze and evaluate methods for preparing and presenting art.
7.VA.P3.A Compare and contrast perceptions of exhibitions in traditional and emerging presentation spaces.
7.VA.R1.A Analyze multiple ways that images influence specific audiences.
7.VA.R1.B Explain how presentation methods and environments influence how art is perceived and valued.
7.VA.R2.A Interpret art to identify ideas and mood conveyed by analyzing art-making approaches, relevant context, subject matter, and use of media while using appropriate art vocabulary.
7.VA.R3.A Compare and contrast evaluation of art based on personal preference versus established criteria.
7.VA.Cn2.A Analyze how responses to art are influenced by understanding the time and place in which it was created, the available resources, and cultural uses.
-
8.VA.Cr1.A Document early stages of the creative process using traditional or emerging media.
8.VA.Cr1.B Collaboratively investigate an aspect of contemporary life utilizing art and design.
8.VA.Cr2.A Experiment, innovate, and take risks to pursue ideas, forms, and meanings that emerge when making art, using course specific craftsmanship.
8.VA.Cr2.C Select, organize, and design images and words to make visually clear and compelling presentations.
8.VA.Cr3.A Apply relevant criteria to examine, reflect on, and plan revisions for a work of art or design in progress.
8.VA.P2.A Collaboratively prepare and present selected theme-based artwork for display, and formulate exhibition narratives for the viewer.
8.VA.P3.A Analyze why and how an exhibition or collection may influence ideas, beliefs, and experiences.
8.VA.R1.B Explain how aesthetic choices are influenced by visual and material cultures and can impact perceived meaning of artworks.
8.VA.R2.A Interpret art by analyzing how mood and meaning are impacted by the relationship of subject matter, use of media, art-making approaches, and relevant context while using appropriate art vocabulary.
8.VA.R3.A Construct a persuasive and logical argument to support an evaluation of art.
8.VA.Cn2.A Distinguish different ways art is used to represent, establish, reinforce, and reflect group identity.
Interdisciplinary Connections
-
Use a scale to draw a floor plan and build a 3D model.
7.G.A.1 – Solve problems involving scale drawings of geometric figures, including computing actual lengths and areas from a scale drawing and reproducing a scale drawing at a different scale
-
Write daily reflections and an Artist Statement.
6.W.TP.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
7.W.TP.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
8.W.TP.2 Write informative/explanatory texts to examine a topic and convey ideas, concepts, and information through the selection, organization, and analysis of relevant content.
-
Choose a location in the neighborhood for a tiny home village.
SSP.06 Develop a geographic awareness by using the geographic perspective to determine relationships, patterns, and diffusion across space at multiple scales, analyzing locations, conditions, and connections of places and use maps to investigate spatial relationships, analyzing interaction between humans and the physical environment and examining how geographic regions and perceptions of regions are fluid across time and space.
-
This project asks students to design a solution to a real problem facing Nashville’s neighborhoods - a lack of affordable housing.
-
Students will learn about the careers of architects and project managers. Group roles will be modeled after these careers.
Skills
Learning and Innovation Skills (4Cs)
-
Articulate thoughts and ideas effectively using oral, written and nonverbal communication skills in a variety of forms and contexts.
-
Demonstrate ability to work effectively and respectfully with diverse teams.
Assume shared responsibility for collaborative work, and value the individual contributions made by each team member.
-
Create new and worthwhile ideas.
Develop, implement, and communicate new ideas to others effectively.
Demonstrate originality and inventiveness in work and understand the real world limits to adopting new ideas.
-
Analyze how parts of a whole interact with each other to produce overall outcomes in complex systems.
Effectively analyze and evaluate evidence, argument, claims, and beliefs.
Reflect critically on learning experiences and processes.
Solve different kinds of non-familiar problems in both conventional and innovative ways.
SEL Core Competencies / “I Can” Statements
-
Self-Awareness
1B.2 Identifies interaction between personal qualities and interests with academic activities and social opportunities
1B.3 Utilizes interest to gain additional experiences toward mastery of a skill or concept
1C.1 Identifies personal strengths and limitations as they relate to specific activities
1C.2 Applies self-reflection techniques to recognize potential, strengths, and growth areas
1D.2 Plans and develops an action plan to set and achieve short- and long-term goals
Self-Management
2A.1 Maintains balance during stress, emotional responses, or changing emotions
2B.4 Establishes criteria for evaluating personal and academic success
Social Awareness
3A.2 Recognizes multiple points of view or perspectives in a situation
3A.4 Predicts the impact of one’s own behavior on the emotions of others
3B.2 Shares reasons for helping others
3B.3 Identifies roles they have that contribute to their school, home, and community
3B.4 Works collaboratively with peers to complete a job, task, or address a need
Relationship Skills
4A.1 Practices reflective listening
4A.2 Demonstrates ability to perform different roles in a cooperative group to achieve group goals
Responsible Decision-Making
5A.4 Explains how honesty, respect, and compassion (empathy) enables one to take the needs of others into account
5B.1 Identifies and applies the steps of systematic decision-making
5B.3 Defines how external influences impact decision-making
Language Acquisition
Academic Vocabulary + Language
Affordable housing, tiny home, form, floor plan, scale, model
Language supports/scaffolds for comprehension of content standards
Visual representations of vocabulary words will be provided.
Copyright Information
Copyright Disclaimer
The Design Your Neighborhood curriculum is copyrighted and there are constraints to its use.
Please Do: copy this resource for your personal classroom use only, and post this for students on a password protected class website.
Please Do Not: reproduce or distribute this resource to other colleagues, post this on the internet in any form - including classroom/personal websites, network drives, or other sharing websites (i.e. Amazon Inspire, etc.), or teach this without the Civic Design Center’s notice.