In attempts to coordinate as a team and learn the mechanics of construction, students are in the midst of building a playhouse.

John Cabage, a professor in the School of Technology, has included building a miniature house as a part of his course requirements.

The assignment is to build an “American Gothic Playhouse” which is located outside of Klehm Hall.

Cabage said they decided to make the location right outside of Klehm because of the convenience of the location, and because it is close to the construction lab.

This building assignment is a part of the coursework for Cabage’s Introduction to Construction class.

Cabage said the purpose of this is to have students learn about material requirements and how to schedule construction work as well as general work.

“What I have done is divided the class up into several groups. Each group is assigned a subcontractor for the owner, which is me,” Cabage said. “They are doing different tasks and having to coordinate their activities together.”

Cabage said his intent is not to make the students tradesmen, but he wants his students to appreciate the different trades they will soon encounter in the real world.

Cabage said he believes this project is a stepping stone course to be used for cost estimation, as well as some of the higher-level construction courses.

This is not the first time Cabage has had his class perform construction.

Last term his students completed a mock of a house.

The house from last term included a door, windows, sinks and steps, all of which the students created on their own.

The previous house had functioning plumbing and electricity.

The new house will also have plumbing and electricity installed.

Unlike the new house, the mock house from last year is located inside of the construction lab in Klehm.

“This project was too big to be done inside. Our students like being outside and doing work outside,” Cabage said.

Cabage said the class did the preliminary work in the construction lab, but the major work was done outside when the weather cleared up.

This semester, Cabage said he wanted a new venture for his students, so he went online and found the small construction plan for the American Gothic Playhouse.

“I knew this project would be in the right budget, so I split it up so that we could use student fees and some other grant money that I have gotten to make it all happen,” Cabage said.

Cabage said the construction budget for this project was around $1,500.

Cabage received the Redden Grant, and the student fees covered the rest of the construction costs.

“Starting out in this class, the students do not have to have any skills, “ Cabage said. “That is the beauty of this class”

Cabage said as a professor, he assumes that many of the students do not have construction skills when they enter the class. He said the primary goal of the class is to teach the students how to acquire these skills.

He does this by being hands-on with the students, and also by his lectures.

“This is a flipped classroom environment. We lecture one day a week, then we have lab two days a week,” Cabage said. “I have created a series of videos as well as a book we are working through, with quizzes that they complete at their own pace.”

Cabage said the students then take the learned skills and they can apply them into real-life work settings.

There are 14 students who are working on the house, which will be completed by the end of the semester.

The student’s final grade depends on the completion of the house.

“We haven’t decided what we are going to do with it when we are done, but we will figure something out,” Cabage said.

Torri Griffith can be reached at 581-2812 or tlgriffith@eiu.edu