ARCHITECTURE + EDUCATION
IN-CLASSROOM SESSION 1 OCTOBER 9, 2019 Attendance in classroom: 14/16
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hat is architecture?
When we first arrived to the classroom the students had prepared a sign writing down what they initially believed architecture was. It was a nice introduction to the lesson for the day as they were going to be introduced the definition of architecture and what it is an architect can do. Today was the day they were also getting introduced to the meaning of the ‘built environment’. The students were shocked as to how much architecture influenced their everyday lives and how much they are surrounded by it, besides actual buildings. To make sure they were engaged throughout the presentation, we added fun interactive questions like, “which one would you rather live in?” This question was just an example showing them how architecture can be seen differently within everyone. They were great at participating and asking questions and were curious about the images on the slides. They learned other vocabulary words during this first lesson like precedent, creativity, design, and most importantly, structure. To introduce structure we related it to their skeletal system. For example, to quote our presentation: “Your skeletal system helps support the body much like structure supports a building!”
It was important that the students grasped the concept of structure, as this was the basis for the final product of the hut they would be producing. They did a wonderful job asking questions and comprehending the different ideas of what structure entails. The activity we set up for them to understand the idea of structure was having a Tallest Tower Contest. The rules were that the structure that they would create out of graham crackers, pretzel sticks, and marshmallows would have to stand on its own. The students were put into groups of two to work together and share the material to create their structures. It was great seeing the different approaches the students used to creating their structures. Some stacked all three material while others only used two out of the three to develop their ideas. Nonetheless, the outcome of this lesson was positive because they each saw how other groups approached it and got a sense of different ideas of how they could potentially create a structure next time. In the end, the students were very productive and had a lot of fun being able to experiment and take what they’ve learned during our presentation to make their ideas come to life. They worked well together and couldn’t wait to take home and eat their creations! At least we got some good pictures before they ate their structures.
-‘What is Architecture?’ Sign: The students all wrote down their thoughts on what they believed architecture was before our lesson. -The ‘stacking’ method created by a group using all three materials. -The ‘connection’ method created by a group only using marshmallows and pretzels.
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