Giving Compass' Take:

• TED-Ed reports on an in-school design and builders program at a charter school in Berkeley, in which students are asked to create tiny homes, chicken coops and other structures that could help their community.

• Besides the technical and soft skills acquired in the process, the students in this program engage in social issues as well. How could other schools replicate what Berkeley is doing?

• If you're feeling inspired by this, here are five tips to help you plan a thoughtful community service project.

How can a well-designed home change someone’s life? During the 2014-2015 school year, some high school students in Berkeley, California, asked that question as they took on a big project: to build a pair of tiny houses.

Affordable housing is a huge issue in Berkeley, so the students started their project by pondering questions like: How does a house empower a person? What does affordable housing mean for a community? From this process of questioning and research, the group of 85 students designed, modeled and built a pair of stylish tiny houses, just 100 square feet each, with space to read, relax and sleep. Over the year-long project, the students learned serious construction skills. Meanwhile, they also learned skills like teamwork, problem-solving, critical reflection and even legacy building, as they followed where the houses ended up: One of the tiny houses was purchased for a mother and young daughter, while another was placed at Opportunity Villagein Eugene, Oregon, a community for people transitioning out of homelessness.

This is a typical project for Studio H, an in-school design-and-build program now based at REALM Charter School in Berkeley after its launch in Bertie County, North Carolina. By leveraging skills traditionally taught in “vocational education” — what many educators now call CTE, for Career and Technical Education — co-founder Emily Pilloton hopes to teach all schoolkids the kinds of skills they’ll need to thrive, like ground-up problem solving, kinesthetic learning and community development. Offered as an elective to middle- and high-schoolers, Studio H enrolls 100 students each year; more than 500 young people have graduated so far.

Read the full article about kids building tiny houses and life skills by Lila Allen at TED-Ed.