Creating buildings that reach hundreds of feet into the sky is no easy task. The third instructional activity in this series begins with four activities that engage young architects in exploring the major challenges that are faced when designing and building skyscrapers. The class then looks at a picture of a skyscraper taken during construction as they learn about the different structural components of these enormous buildings.

Concepts

architecture, engineering design, engineering, the industrial age, the industrial revolution, skyscrapers, technology resources

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Additional Tags

architecture, construction, structural engineering, structural design, engineering design, skyscraper, industrialization, building construction

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Instructional Ideas

• Depending on the age of the students, supplement this lesson with a discussion about the different technologies that made the construction of skyscraper possible

Pros

• Offers ideas for activities that extend learning about the construction of skyscrapers
• A worksheet is provided that guides children through each of the four exploration stations
• A list of key vocabulary with definitions is provided to support the content of the lesson
• This would be a great lesson to include in a social studies unit on industrialization during the mid to late 19th century

Cons

• Various materials need to be collected for the four activity stations included in the lesson

Common Core

RI.3.7 RI.4.7 RI.5.7 L.2.5.a L.3.5.a L.3.5.b RI.6.7