4th Grade Architectural Styles Presentations

 How does one learn the most about a topic?  Teach others!  

After learning about various architectural styles in history, students partnered up and chose an architectural style that they wanted to teach others about.  

Students needed to research this particular style and create a slideshow sharing some of the quintessential architectural features known for that particular style of architecture.  They also needed to find famous buildings that exist in that style.  They needed to research to see if there are any buildings in St. Louis that also featured that style of architecture.  

Then they needed to sketch a design and build a prototype of their style with the quintessential features. 

 
The prototypes were a collaborative effort, and the students did an amazing job with the designs!  

When it was time to teach the class about their particular architectural style, the students were ready!  
They really understood the style and its features.  

Each group developed a quiz to check students' understanding of their teaching.  

Some students presented an oral quiz.  Others used technology like Kahoot or Blooket for their class quiz.  

We were very impressed with both the presentations and the architectural prototypes!  

After our presentations, we moved on to understanding the inside of buildings, the floorplans.  The students quickly reviewed area and perimeter and found the square footage of some rooms in a house.  

This coming week, students will experiment with a digital tool that allows them to create a 2D floorplan that will automatically transform into a 3D plan with walls.  They can insert furniture and other features in the room.  
Also, this coming week, we will be looking closely at the new Spoede School architectural plans and see how these plans are coming to life!

Below is the new floorplan for the Idea Lab classroom (all the way on the right)  and STEAM room that will be attached.  The garage door is between the two rooms.  The library/media center is to the left of the STEAM room.  

Exciting to be able to have this architecture unit going on at the same time that our new school is being built behind us!