Elementary and Middle School Outreach Programs

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AIANH's elementary and middle school outreach programs include:

Shoebox Clubhouse

This fourth-grade program consists of  three class sessions with the end result of a "Shoebox Clubhouse" created by each child. Students select their own shoeboxes and design their own clubhouses. Each child's imagination and passion direct the result. Clubhouses could be for ski teams, soccer teams, girl scout troops, and any other purpose the children can came up with!

This class is structured to give children an outlet for their imagination and to develop the skills of measuring, model building, and spatial understanding. The goals for this program are:

    •    to engage children in architectural awareness and design projects with architects and 
designers
    •    to support educators who engage children in interdisciplinary, curriculum-based 
architectural awareness projects
    •    to give children the opportunity and skills to communicate ideas about their 
built and natural environments

If you are a fourth-grade teacher interested in this program for your class, call Bonnie Kastel at the AIANH office, 603.501.1881.

Neighborhood Walking Tours

Neighborhood Walking Tours are a self-discovery program for students and teachers. During the course of this program, students tour their home and school neighborhoods and ultimately, the neighborhood that represents their city. AIANH volunteers and the classroom teacher develop a workbook of activities that  guide the students to an understanding of the architectural design, city/planning, and people processes which influence how our cities work.

In this program, students use the visual history book of the city, its buildings and streets, to learn about their own communities. During their study of the city, they will learn history, geography, science and art. They practice skills: reading, writing, arithmetic, communications, and technology. They ultimately learn about the issues and challenges that face our cities: preservation, new technology, growth, safety, planning for the future.

When the workbook is complete, participants will have a very personalized journal of their travels through the discovery of their own cities and neighborhoods. The Neighborhood Walking Tours approach gives students a way to look at and evaluate buildings, neighborhoods, and cities and to become advocates for a better built environment.

The Neighborhood Walking Tours program puts in the hands of educators a very specific and manageable approach to discovering the built environment. The student and educator become a part of the process, thus making the experience a personalized one for each school, each neighborhood, and each city.

If you are a fourth-grade teacher interested in this program for your class, call Bonnie Kastel at the AIANH office, 603.501.1881.

Box City

Our Box City program is an inspiring event that simply must be seen to be believed. Box Ciy is an interdisciplinary program in which single grades or whole schools work together to design and build a scale-model town from the ground up. Children answer the question "What makes a good city?" and learn how they can participate in improving their built and natural environments. AIANH architects and volunteers coordinate the event and oversee the program.

See press on our March 2011 Learning by Design Box City Program at Little Harbour School in Porstmouth.

If you are interested in having the Box City program at your school, please contact the AIANH office.

Introduction to Architecture

This six-week introduction to Architecture for middle school students includes presentations by architects, interior designers, and high performance building experts to provide a knowledge base for this hands-on student project. Students conceive an interior design scheme for spaces within their school as they learn about the design process: document and demonstrate their knowledge of existing physical surroundings; identify needs through programming; complete sketching and modeling exercises; and select environmentally friendly materials and finishes. The process gives students the opportunity and skills they need to communicate their ideas about the built environment.

Please contact the AIANH office for more information.

Bridges and Structures

Bridges and Structures is an AIANH Learning by Design program that teaches Middle School students the fundamental structural engineering concepts involved in building different types of bridges. This program presents bridges as structural solutions to specific problems and will introduce students to basic bridge types: beam, arch, truss, suspension and cable-stayed. Students become engineers and work in teams, using craft material to build model bridges that solve transportation problems, while balancing issues of geography, material, cost and aesthetics. Students participating in this program will explore how technology and design, coupled with human and environmental resources, working concept to meet demands of a mobile society.

Please contact the AIANH office for more information.