Shark Tank, Notre Dame Edition

It’s all part of a long-term classroom project called the Annex Redesign, in which students are tackling the question “How can one or more of the annex spaces on the Notre Dame campus be renovated, redesigned, or repurposed to add value to campus life?”
Before beginning the annex project, algebra students reinforced their knowledge of writing and solving equations, practiced solving proportions and worked with similar figures and scale factors.

Students were then able to tour the annex spaces and gather information about the history and current uses of the spaces from guest presentations given by President Curis, Mr. Olt, and Mr. Ciuca. Class design teams submitted an initial proposal and, once approved, design leaders guided their teams through the creation of a hand-drawn, scaled floor plan, a digital floor plan, and an interactive 3-dimensional model of the redesigned space.

Design teams used a variety of state-of-the-art digital resources, including RoomSketcher, Tinkercad, SketchUp, Google Maps and Google Earth. Students also researched the materials and resources needed for their new space and analyzed the financial impact of their decisions.

In the end, it was time to sink or swim! The project culminated with presentations by each design team as they explained and defended their plans for the annex redesign and pitched their ideas to classmates, visiting teachers and administrators and other “potential investors” in a style similar to CNBC’s popular TV show Shark Tank.