Rooftop gardens, shared transport and homes built entirely from cardboard – the neighbourhood taking shape in Year 4 classrooms looks quite different from the one most adults know.
It is the result of Green Dream Homes, a STEAM-based program in which students design, build and present model homes that reflect a future they want to live in. For many adults, sustainability is tangled in policy, lifestyle choices and long-term consequences. For Year 4 students, it begins with imagination.
The program runs across the year and draws on every part of STEAM. In science, students investigate renewable energy, water use and the materials that make a building more or less sustainable. In technology and engineering, they test structures and solve practical problems as their models take shape. In art and design, they refine layouts, colour palettes and the look and feel of each home. In mathematics, they work with scale, measurement and budgets to bring their plans to life.
Along the way, students become architects, planners and storytellers. They sketch blueprints, write persuasive applications to a mock council and build homes complete with interiors, gardens and transport solutions. Each student must explain and defend their choices, answering questions about why a feature is included and how it benefits the people who would live there.
Recently, these homes took centre stage in a playful auction, where parents bid for their favourites. While the process is light-hearted, it reinforces the seriousness of the thinking behind each design – sustainability as a lived value, not just a concept.
This project reflects IGS’s broader commitment to sustainability, STEAM learning and promoting worldly thinking. It encourages students to engage with global challenges through local action, to think critically about the future and to see themselves as active participants in shaping it.
