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K-12 Education

Learning By Design:NY

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Our classroom residency programs introduce K-12 students to architecture and design through a series of hands-on workshops, developed and taught by our Design Educators in collaboration with classroom teachers. We use architecture and design as vehicles for fostering learning and discovery across core subject areas, cultivating students’ observation skills, critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity.

Programs are customized to enrich and extend existing classroom studies and address core subject standards. All residencies include art materials, a planning meeting with participating teachers, and a series of 90-minute classroom workshops. Program length varies from 6-10+ sessions. Activities include hands-on art and design projects, scale model building, engineering challenges, and neighborhood walks. Programs can also be offered as after-school enrichment.

For prices and more information please contact Catherine Teegarden, Director of Education, 212-358-6135 or cteegarden@centerforarchitecture.org.

Sponsors

Learning By Design:NY is supported, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the New York City Council, Kinder Morgan Foundation, Judith Hunt and generous individual and corporate donors.

K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Neighborhood Architecture, 2nd Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Neighborhood Architecture, 1st Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Neighborhood Architecture, 2nd Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Neighborhood Architecture, 2nd Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Amusement Park Design, 4th Grade.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Amusement Park Design, 4th Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Architectural Design, 11/12th Grades. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Architectural Design, 11/12th Grades. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Native American Architecture, 3rd Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Native American Architecture, 3rd Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Building Design, 7th Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Building Design, 7th Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Scale Models, 6th Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.
K-12 Learning By Design:NY, Scale Models, 6th Grade. Photo: Center for Architecture.

Sample Residency Topics

Custom programs can also be developed around a particular theme or curriculum area.

Neighborhood Architecture grades K-4; 8 sessions

Students learn fundamentals of architecture and design by exploring the buildings in their city neighborhood. As a culminating project, students design their own buildings to create a classroom streetscape or model neighborhood.

Architecture of Other Cultures and Time Periods grades 3+; 8- 10 sessions

Students learn how culture, technology, climate and environment help shape the architecture of people and places they are studying, and create scale models of typical buildings and structures from this culture or time period. Sample topics include Native American Architecture, Ancient Greek & Roman Architecture, Traditional Architecture of Japan, China, or Islamic Middle East, Architecture & Climate Around the World.

NYC’s Historic Architecture grades 2+; 8- 10 sessions

Students learn to “read” the city’s streetscapes and buildings for information about their design and history, and create their own scale models depicting the city in the past. Programs can focus on a particular time period, or trace the development of the city over time through its residential architecture or landmark structures. 

Green Architecture grades 4+; 8-10 sessions

Students learn about a variety of sustainable design techniques used to create environmentally friendly buildings. Working with our modified version of the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) checklist, students create models of their own green structures or redesign their neighborhood as a sustainable community.

Bridge Design grades 2+; 8-10 sessions

Students learn about four different types of bridges: beam, truss, arch and suspension through hands-on experiments and design activities that help them understand the forces at work in each bridge type. Students then collaborate in small groups to design working bridge models of their own. 

Building Design grades 4+; 8-10 sessions

Students learn how to create scaled architectural floor plans, elevations and models as they design their own model apartments, stores, or other building type. This motivating design project provides substantial practice with math topics of measurement and geometry, and can be done individually or in small groups. 

School Improvement Project grades 5+; 10+ sessions

Students assess existing conditions and identify a school need that can be addressed through design. Working in design teams, students develop scale drawings and models of their proposed solutions and present these to school stakeholders for approval. Winning design(s) may be implemented by Design Educator working with students in small groups if funding allows.

Teen Programs

Other K-12 School Programs

Youth & Family Programs

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