View video clips Students are architects designing a dream home for their client in this lesson from the Pathways curriculum. Pathways is composed of a series of design units based on the mathematics that used in real-world work settings. The focus for this lesson is on the concept of area, measuring the area of irregular figures, and is balanced by an open-ended question that includes area. The class first measured floor space and developed a definition of area in their own words to arrive at the mathematical definition of area.

They moved into group work where they identified an irregular room in the blueprint for their dream home and solved for the area of the room recording their strategies along the way. Students assumed the role of carpet installers in their next challenge, and a visit from Mr. Scott, a local carpet installer, provided a model and insight into some of the fundamental mathematical concepts involved in laying carpet. The following day brought the class into the computer lab where they experimented with scale by enlarging one of the rooms in their dream home.