At 4 metres tall and 4 metres wide, the giant tetrahedron towered over students and teachers at Scalby school in Scarborough. The children had built a number of smaller tetrahedrons using rods and elastic bands, which were then put together to create the final 3D model – so big it had to be housed in the sports hall.
While the pyramid, made entirely of equilateral triangles, was a mathematical marvel, there was more to the project than geometry. It was also a lesson in construction. Maths teacher Stuart Beeby was inspired by lesson plans from Go Construct’s bank of resources that are designed to teach students aged 11 and upwards skills including teamwork, engineering problem solving and working to timescales.
Beeby says creating something tangible made the lesson relevant to students; asking them to solve real-life problems also boosted their motivation. For example, a recent project asked students to plan a housing estate using information provided by a local developer. They had to calculate costs and make accurate measurements, before creating a scale model to explore whether they could actually build it and still make a profit.
Beeby has also recently been inspired by work to regenerate a council estate in his area. He got in touch with one of the developers and will visit the site with 25 students next month. The idea, he explains, is to explore what it takes to finance such a huge project, working out how many houses you can fit in a limited area, and calculating the cost of construction. He says they will then look at how you sell the houses at a profit, as well as what might limit your ability to do so.
To add a practical element to the lesson, Beeby will visit an unfinished showhouse and get students to take measurements, calculate what is needed to decorate the space and then work out the costs.
“I hope that by actually going on site the students will learn from people who do the work, so it’s not just listening to lessons from teachers,” he says. “I am going to have the construction manager and the site manager in there to work with the students.”
With a high demand for skilled workers in UK construction, Beeby hopes his lessons will also spark an interest among students to pursue a career in the industry.
Maths is not the only subject where teachers can ignite a passion for the sector, however. Wendy Heller, training, development and curriculum manager at Construction Youth Trust, teaches young people aged 14 to 30 and not in education, employment or training (Neets) the essential skills needed to get a job in construction. A joiner by trade, Heller says students can learn about the topic in a range of curriculum subjects – from art to history and science.
For example, she took students to the museum and arranged for an Egyptologist to give a personal handling session with some of the collection’s 5,000-year-old carpentry tools. In geography, she suggests exploring different species of timber used in construction and linking it with a lesson on sustainability in biology. Teachers can ask students to find out what trees are endangered and what species are extinct because of logging.
Beeby’s idea to build a model of a housing estate can just as easily apply to art and design, using a lesson from Go Construct which asks students to build a model of a sustainable mixed housing development. Children can then look at the impact of housing developments on the environment and the community.
Or how about designing a bridge to go across a river? The teacher can bring the lesson to life by taking children out to see one in action, asking them to consider issues such as drainage, sustainability, aesthetics and the environment.
One of the biggest challenges for the construction industry is attracting more women. Women make up just 11% of the entire workforce in construction and on building sites themselves, it is estimated that 99% of workers are men. So how can teachers make lessons around construction more appealing to girls?
Heller says schools need to raise awareness of the equal opportunities available for girls in the industry. Teachers can do this with the help of this Construction Youth Trust lesson for students aged 13 and up. The lesson plan challenges perceptions about what certain workers in the industry might look like and the roles we are expected to play in society.
GoConstruct also has an activity that encourages participants to question the stereotypes associated with roles within the construction sector. Students are given two sets of cards – one labelled “myth” the other “buster”. The objective is to match fact and fiction to reveal the truth behind some of our biggest misconceptions about careers in the industry.
Heller, who regularly visits schools to teach children of all ages about careers in the industry, reveals that girls will often tell her it’s not a job for women so it’s crucial that teachers integrate diversity into lessons about the sector.
She says: “Yes, I am a tradeswoman but I have worked in the music industry, building sets for pop videos, I have built sets for movies and TV. I have worked all over the world, on sites, in people’s houses. We have to try and break these stereotypes by making these options visible to young women and starting at an early age.”
