Architecture
in Education uses multidisciplinary, hands-on, interactive projects
developed around architecture, or more broadly speaking, the built
environment to teach students. AIE sees in the built environment
a laboratory that is immediate and personal to students' daily lives.
AIE's
approach is to actively engage students in learning the
elements of community; design and its effects on human behavior; the
effects of different climates and cultures on architecture; and how
students and other individuals can and do influence their environment.
With
AIE, teachers develop activities that focus on students solving problems
and using their critical thinking skills in math, science, and the
humanities. Teachers use as teaching materials the structures, buildings,
streets, neighborhoods, communities, and cities around their schools,
making the built environment a laboratory of learning activities for
kids.
Whatever
the subject - art, math,
language arts, geography, social studies, history, science - AIE uses
the built environment to stimulate new ways of seeing and learning.
Experiential activities teach basic concepts, awakening in students
a greater awareness and understanding of what is around them.
Students learn how:
- Cities
and towns are made;
- Architecture
reflects history;
- Climate
and geography affect the built environment;
- Culture
and heritage affect design; and
- Design
of the built environment affects human behavior.
The
goals of the AIE Web site are to help teachers integrate
the built environment into their lesson plans through suggested activities
and sample projects and to connect teachers with each other, architects,
and architectural students to share ideas and inspirations.
Similar
and Related Programs
|
| We
Are What We Build, a local history project designed to
give fourth graders an understanding of how local architecture
reflects the history, culture, and traditions of a community.
This project was designed by teachers at Middleburgh Elementary
School in upstate New York. |
|
AERC:
Design
workshops for K-8 as well as for teachers; resource catalog;
teacher activities; Boston-based.
http://www.ncounty.net/aerc/tiestoframworks.html
|
| Box
City, A highly adaptable lesson plan that involves building
cities from your boxes or their boxes, created by the Center for
Understanding the Built Environment (CUBE) in Prairie Village,
Kansas. |
|
Salvadori Center
Education and the Built Environment for teachers and kids of all
ages, based on the work of Mario Salvadori, the late engineer
who wrote, "Why Buildings Fall Down" and "Why Buildings
Stand Up." |
|
Chicago
Architecture Foundation This course on Chicago's architectural
history will introduce teachers to ways of using architecture
in the classroom. |
| ArKIDecture
Web Page, featuring an elementary-level set of explanations
about seven categories of buildings types and components, from
"everyday" to "extraordinary." |
| Built
Environment Education Program (BEEP), a program for young
students sponsored by the American Institute of Architects California
Council. |
Learning
By Design in Massachusetts (LBD:MA) Based in Boston. A
comprehensive program that teaches students to use the Design
Process to"solve, justify and communicate solutions to problems."
http://www.architects.org |
|
Kathy Schrock's Guide to Art & Architecture for Educators
Lots of lesson plans! |
|
The Architectural Heritage
Society of Scotland |
|
Create A Co-op City
Author Peter Barricelli makes a case for using scale drawings
and architecture in the classroom. |
