Urban Rocks: Investigating Stone Used for Buildings and Monuments

The construction of skyscrapers is no simple undertaking, involving the careful coordination and planning of many different people. The third lesson in this series explores this detailed process by first teaching children about the main...

Students participate in an in-depth study of a historic building in their community. They conduct a visual survey of the building, complete a worksheet, take a rubbing of the building, and research the history of the building.

Pupils investigate the various architectural styles of Arkansas. They read a handout, complete a worksheet, view images of architectural styles, and take photos and write descriptions of five style elements they observe in their...

Fifth graders find the area and volume of buildings. In this architecture instructional activity, 5th graders look at the drawings of three historic Tennessee buildings. They use these to help find the area and volume of the building. 

Students explore architectural styles and define architectural terms. They construct a building using various architectural elements, and display their buildings, identifying each of the architectural components they used.

Besides serving as awe-inspiring monuments of human achievement, skyscrapers are built to perform a wide range of functions in urban communities. The second instructional activity in this series begins by exploring the history of the...

Resource about the raw materials used for building: stone, wood, metal, and glass. Historic and modern uses are described. Includes interviews with architects and excerpts from literature relevant to the raw materials.

Students examine the reasons why people built homes and businesses with brick. They discover how brick technology has improved buildings over the years. They participate in an activity to complete the lesson.

Pupils distinguish between a rural community and a city community by observing the architecture in each one. They observe and discuss pictures of buildings. Students write a paragraph explaining the purpose of a particular building. They...

Intricately detailed paper-folding activity that provides templates and instructions for building a three-dimensional paper model of the Great Sphinx. Instructions require download.