Educating Tomorrow’s Leaders through Design Education
Youth education is a hallmark of the Museum, where teaching about innovation, science, and arts serve our national priorities.
For almost three decades, the National Building Museum has taught children about architecture, engineering, urban planning, and construction through programs that enhance critical thinking, problem-solving, and communication skills. The programs meet content standards for math, science, social studies, language arts, technological literacy, and art. The Museum's education programs teach youth about civic involvement and cultivate life-long interest in the built environment.
The National Building Museum partners with federal agencies such as the U.S. Department of Labor, private corporations such as Turner Construction Company, and associations such as the American Planning Association to develop programs that engage children through problem-solving and hands-on activities, a central component of design education. These partners share the Museum's vision to link design education with careers in the building industries by supporting the Museum's education initiatives:
- More than 24,000 students, teachers and chaperones attended an amazing 874 individual programs held in the 2010-2011 academic school year.
- More than 300 free school programs were provided for Title I schools and Washington, D.C. Public Schools at the National Building Museum.
- Over 21,000 visitors experienced our free family festivals, including the annual Big Build, Discover Engineering Family Day, and National Cherry Blossom Festival.
In addition to the on-site offerings, the Museum is focused on bringing programs to schools across the nation. The Museum now has three curriculum kits bringing design education to classrooms in Washington, DC and around the country:Bridge Basics Program Kit, Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP): Building Blocks, and The Green Community Teaching Kit
Learn more about design education and the design process.
Learn more about the tools the National Building Museum offers to assist educators in their classroom.
The National Building Museum offers a variety of educational programs that encourage our youth to investigate the world and teach them how they can impact the environment:
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Activities & Program Sampling |
Description |
| For our youngest visitors (ages 2-8) |
Building Zone (ages 2–6) | A hands-on introduction to the building arts in an exploratory gallery where children can build, read, imagine, and more. |
| School Programs Patterns, Here, There and Everywhere (grades Pre-K–2) |
Pattern recognition helps students organize information. | |
| Book of the Month Literacy Program (ages 3–5) | A monthly read-aloud, with books that explore themes such as patterns, city planning, construction, and celebration of other cultures. | |
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For elementary school students |
School Programs |
An introduction to the variety of forces and people that shape communities. |
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Summer Camp (entering grades 3–5) |
Three unique sessions of two-week, full-day summer camp that offers campers a chance to experience the world we build for ourselves through building, visual, and performing arts. | |
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For teens and young adults |
School Programs |
Students act as carpenters and use power screwdrivers to assemble an 8 x 11’ house from the ground up. |
| CityVision | A semester-long program that prepares students to become active participants in shaping their communities. | |
| Design Apprenticeship Program (DAP) | Presents middle and high school students with a design challenge for which they conceive, develop, test, and construct a solution. | |
| Investigating Where We Live (IWWL) | A four-week summer program in which students interpret Washington, D.C. neighborhoods through photography and creative writing. | |
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Family learning |
Families, scout groups, and all curious visitors can debunk the myths of engineering and discover how professional engineers turn an idea into reality. |
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| The Big Build | The festival exlores the practical and artistic, the traditional and innovative, highlighting the many different and dynamic aspects of the building arts. | |
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Everyday Family Tool Kits |
Each tool kit helps families explore the architecture of the Museum's historic home by seeing, moving, touching, and doing. | |
| Discovery Carts Bridging the Gap Arches and Trusses: The Tension Builds |
Interactive demonstrations where participants learn about bridge types or test different building materials while working together to build an arch. | |
| Scout Days | Girl and Cub Scout Days teach scouts to recognize and solve design problems, test civil and aerodynamic engineering principles, weigh environmental issues, and "read" the buildings around them. |
