GUEST BLOGGER ELAINE KACHALA
Around the world, people urgently need safe, affordable homes—and our planet needs climate solutions now! In Building Homes for All: Technology for a Fair and Green Planet (Orca Book Publishers, 2026), middle-grade readers discover why homes matter for our health and well-being and meet innovators reimagining how we build. Using cutting-edge technology, sustainable materials, and teamwork, innovators are building better, faster, safer, cheaper, and greener to help solve the world’s housing shortages and climate change.
Building Homes for All is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection. Educators may find it a useful STEAM resource for engaging students in solving real-world housing and climate challenges using emerging construction technologies, and for helping them imagine having a meaningful career in clean, green, smart construction. The activities below can help move students from thinking about housing, health, and climate issues to how STEAM solutions are possible.
Activity 1: Activate students’ knowledge about the subjects of housing and health.
- Ask students to write a paragraph or two describing what they know about how housing and homelessness can affect people’s health and well-being. Students can do research to support or refute their ideas.
- A common proverb states, “Home is where the heart is.” It means the concept of home is not a physical place, but a place where one feels emotions like love, comfort, and caring. Ask students to define the meaning of home. They can create a poem or proverb to express their ideas about what makes a house a home. They can also complete the activity in this postcard.
Activity 2: Activate students’ knowledge about how construction impacts the environment.
- Ask students to research and write about how traditional construction methods affect our environment.
- Robotics, immersive technologies, and modern methods of construction are enabling people to build affordable and sustainable housing quickly. Ask students to research and write summaries about these technologies. Guiding questions may include:
- What is a robot? How are robots helping in construction?
- Explain immersive technologies. How are they construction super helpers?
- What is mass timber? How does it differ from traditional wood? What are the benefits of building with mass timber? How is it part of the carbon loop cycle?
- Explain 3D construction printing (3DCP). How are innovators working to ensure 3DCP is sustainable and affordable?
- What is modular factory-built housing? How can it help create more affordable and sustainable housing?
Activity 3: Activate students’ thinking about careers in building and construction by asking them to answer these questions:
- Did you ever think of construction as a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, art and math) career? Explain your answer.
- Does working with the latest clean, green, smart technology make construction a more or less exciting career option? Explain your answer.
- Have you ever 3D-printed something? What steps did you take to create your finished product? What challenges did you face?
- How do you think 3D printing could address a housing need in your community? Create a presentation that teaches others in your class about 3D printing and how it could add to affordable, sustainable housing in your community.
A free NGSS and CCSS-aligned teacher guide harnesses more high-interest lessons that combine STEM and ELA activities.
Featured image credit: “3D Green Home” by ccPixs.com is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
Elaine Kachala writes bold, curiosity-fueled STEAM nonfiction that empowers young readers to imagine—and build—a better world with technology. Building Homes for All: Technology for a Fair and Green Planet (2026) is a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard with notable reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, and SLJ. Her debut, Superpower? The Wearable-Tech Revolution (2022) was an NSTA/CBC Best STEM Book K-12 and finalist for several major awards. As a health policy adviser with degrees in social sciences and environmental studies, Elaine weaves her knowledge into stories about real-life inventors who dream big while considering the health, social, and ethical impacts of their innovations. For more information, please visit: Website: https://www.elainekachala.com/. Instagram: @elainekachala LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elainekachala/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elainekachala Twitter: @elainekachala YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@elainekachala2009 Pinterest: elainekachala0720
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