American Institute of Architects
Architecture: It's Elementary!—Fifth Grade
Young citizens construct an understanding of urban planning in this cross-curricular unit. Covering every aspect of city development from the political, economic, and social influences to sustainable building practices, this 10-lesson...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Geometry in Architecture #1
Discover how to analyze architecture from a geometric standpoint. The fourth installment of an 11-part unit on architecture first provides a presentation on axis, balance, basic form, formal, pattern, proportion, symmetry, and tripartite...
Curated OER
Using the Internet - Art and Design
An interesting resource that might work best in an upper level art course, this handout provides a list of nine websites where young artists can read and study about all forms of art. These online resources range from a dictionary of...
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Roman Architecture
Design an office fit for the gods. Individuals view a PowerPoint presentation on Roman architecture, its key elements, and famous structures. In groups, they design an office building incorporating the elements of Roman architecture.
Texas Education Agency (TEA)
Design and Draw a Mixed-Media Structure
Mix up your lessons with a resource on mixed-media structures. Scholars design a structure out of paper, balloons, and string that will lift a pencil to the greatest height; they construct the structure at a later time.
Curated OER
Playground Design
Learners design recreational equipment for a community. In this architecture lesson, students work in pairs to design the equipment. Learners select materials and begin designing. Students assess themselves with a pre-made rubric.
Curated OER
Race the Track! Design Challenge
Students use the design process to investigate physical science. In this force and motion lesson, design a track to achieve a specified outcome. Students complete additional experiments with speed and distance. Students recognize the...
Curated OER
Design a Tornado-Proof Building
Students design a tornado-proof building. For this inquiry-based lesson, students demonstrate their knowledge of tornadoes and the damage they can cause by trying to design a building that can withstand a tornado.
Curated OER
Puzzle Pieces of Architectural Elements on Early Huguenot Street
Fifth graders visit Early Huguenot Street which showcases several examples of architecture and design from before 1720. They, in groups, record information on specific houses, arrange the information in a puzzle format and present it to...
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
Popsicle Bridge
Using popsicle sticks and glue, groups must work together to design and build a bridge that can support weight and is aesthetically pleasing. The instructional activity begins by learners reading about different features of bridge...
Curated OER
Modern Day Pyramids
Students investigate the ways in which ancient technologies - six types of simple machines and combinations - are used to construct modern buildings. As they work together to solve a design problem (designing and building a modern...
Curated OER
Tree Diversity Activity
Class members become tree huggers with this terrific study of biodiversity among trees! They do so by examining different characteristics of trees: shape, leaves, bark, fruit or seeds, etc. After examining five concepts, they use their...
Curated OER
Discovering Details: Shoebox Designs
Students investigate architectural art by creating an interior design for a box. In this art design activity, students analyze modern artifacts such as doorknobs, brackets and mailboxes by using a Venn diagram to identify similarities...
Curated OER
Workshop: Health Challenge
Students conduct Internet research in order to better understand the concepts of sustainable health design. In this design and architecture lesson, students gather data and creat a materials kit that responds to the challenges of health...
Curated OER
City Architecture at Night
Students research the social, economic, and architectural characteristics that distinguish different cultures and civilizations in two different cities of the world. They prepare a comparative pictorial and written report on the two...
Curated OER
Dream Building: Frank Lloyd Wright 1867 – 1959
As a part of an architecture unit, 10th graders research and draw a building's exterior. They view images of buildings Frank Lloyd Wright has designed, attend lecture, conduct research on architectural design, and then draw an exterior...
Curated OER
World Trade Center Design Proposals
Learners explore architectural design. In this critical thinking and architecture instructional activity, students view a number of websites providing proposals for design plans of a new World Trade Center. Learners choose and evaluate...
Curated OER
It's Not Conjecture, Look! It's Architecture!
Students examine how architecture reflects historical time periods. They conduct research on the History Detectives website, complete a fact sheet, sequence photographs of different architectural styles, and create an illustration of a...
Curated OER
Gingerbread Architecture: An Exploration and Engineering
Eighth graders design and build a gingerbread house. For this technology lesson, 8th graders research the important components of a house. They evaluate the strength of their design and suggest modifications when necessary.
Curated OER
Exploring the Design Process: The Work of Charles and Ray Eames
Explore the work of Charles and Ray Eames and design philosophy for three Eames' objects. Students complete image based discussion, create sketches of forms that interest them, and create their own images for a house of cards game....
Curated OER
Designing an Earthquake-resistant Structure
Students attempt to design and build the most stable "earthquke resistant" structure. They create model buildings and test them on a shake table to see which design holds up the best.
Curated OER
The BEAM Project: Building Efficient Architectural Models
Technology or engineering teams are given a task to design, construct, and test the efficiency of a structure that will foster an even temperature throughout an entire sunny day. Intended as a long-term project, pupils research, plan,...
Curated OER
Exploring the Design Process
Students analyze the design process and architecture of Ludwig van der Rohe. In this architecture and art analysis lesson, students explore the design process through photographic documentation and architectural plans. Students use...
Curated OER
Medieval Art and Architecture
Detailing the characteristics of Medieval art and architecture, including Romanesque and Gothic architecture, these slides provide incredible views of some of the most famous buildings, cathedrals and castles in the world. A few slides...