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Architecture is the art and science of designing and building structures. The students are learning about many structures such as skyscrapers, bridges, dams, tunnels, and lighthouses. They are exploring forces such as compression and tension as well as exploring and measuring shapes in the architecture in our world. The students are engaging in depth of knowledge questions through close reads, practicing the engineering process through STEM challenges, and exploring creativity through designing structures of their own. Below, you can see some of the pictures and projects the students participated in.
Architecture is the art and science of designing and building structures. The students are learning about many structures such as skyscrapers, bridges, dams, tunnels, and lighthouses. They are exploring forces such as compression and tension as well as exploring and measuring shapes in the architecture in our world. The students are engaging in depth of knowledge questions through close reads, practicing the engineering process through STEM challenges, and exploring creativity through designing structures of their own. Below, you can see some of the pictures and projects the students participated in.
Intro to Architecture and Tallest Structure Challenge
The students took an unusual pretest about what they thought architecture was. They used their collaboration skills to write words, phrases, and draw pictures about their thoughts. This gave me an understanding about which topics to really focus on for the students to experience during our unit.
Students then explored architecture through a variety of activities including things such as Bill Nye and Magic Schoolbus videos, Brainpop videos, image slideshows, 'Iggy Peck, Architect' read aloud, and a Frayer model for some key vocabulary words.
After that, students were challenged to create the tallest structure using a variety of materials limited to only 40 items per group. Students had some successes and some failures, but gained a lot of knowledge about the engineering process and working with others through challenges.
Shapes and Angles
Forces: Tension and Compression
Students learned about the importance of shapes and angles in the design of architecture structures. The younger students learned about different flat and 3-dimensional shapes in the world. Students found examples around the building of different shapes and angles, identifying acute, obtuse, and right angles. The students then designed a new, creative toy with some of the different shapes and angles. The older students learned about the importance of architects accurately measuring angles in his or her designs. Students learned how to use protractors to measure angles around the classroom.
Next, students started to learn about the forces of compression and tension structures have. Students did some kinesthetic activites to explore these types of forces.
Bridges
Students learned about different bridges in the world around them. They watched some background videos, engaged in a close reading passage and answered some deeper thinking questions about the information in the passage.
After that, students participated in a Penny Bridge Challenge to see if they could construct a bridge out of one piece of paper, two books, and 5 paperclips that would hold up to 100 pennies! Students reflected on what worked, what didn't work, and how improvements could be made to ensure stability for more weight. It was a great learning experience to discuss the engineering process and social collaboration with others!
Dams
The students learned a lot about another structure called a dam. We watched a Brainpop, read a background text, and did some research about what dams are, how they work, and why they are helpful in our communities. After the lesson, students identified the positives and negatives of dams and discussed/debated why a dam would be a pro or a con in a community. Students also participated in a building challenge to create a dam using popsicle sticks, playdoh and tape. After construction, the students poured a cup of water into the container where their dams were created to see if it held the water from reaching the "house" on the other end of the container. It was awesome and the ideas and teamwork were great!
Skyscrapers, Paper Bag Communities, and Geodesic Domes
We wrapped up our architecture unit exploring some other types of structures. We also applied measurement tasks with rulers to learn about measuring in inches, using a scale with a blueprint, and finding area and perimeter of the designs we made.
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