Building homes, Native American style

Last week, the Spirits and Navigators faced another engineering challenge: design and build an accurate model of one of several different types of Native American homes: Wigwam, Tipi, Plank House, Longhouse, Hogan or Pueblo. Here are some photos of what the process looked like, along with some of the final results. What we learned? It was helpful to be able to use a few things that the Native Americans did not have available -- glue and hot glue, for example. Several students noted that the Native Americans in the different regions were very resourceful and made good use of the natural resources they had available in their area. Other things we learned? "That its harder than it looks," and that "the people who made these houses were very skilled."