School Programs at the National Building Museum
Programs run from October 1, 2008 to June 12, 2009 and are held at 10:00 am and 12:30 pm Monday-Friday. Click to be brought directly to a specific program description or scroll through to read them all.
Please note that the words "class" and "program" are used interchangeably.
Patterns Here, There, and Everywhere (Grades Pre-K-2)
What are patterns and how are they used to decorate and construct buildings? Why are they important?
Patterns exist everywhere in the built environment. Through pattern recognition, students organize random information into groupings that help them make sense of their everyday lives. During this program, students learn the importance of repetition, rhythm, and consistency in patterns that define the built environment. Working in teams, they identify shapes and patterns by examining the walls, floors, and ceiling of the National Building Museum. Students have fun creating their own patterns using their arms, legs, and faces, and illustrating individual booklets with a variety of materials.
This program meets content standards for math, technology, art, and music. This program comes with an Educator Resource Packet that includes pre- and post-visit lessons and information.
Registration Details:
Grades pre-K–2
1.5 hours (10:00-11:30 am or 12:30-2:00 pm)
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of three chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 4 classes (120 students) at a time.
Return to top
Create your own city during the City by Design program.
Photo by Museum staff
City by Design (Grades K-5)
How does the layout of a city reflect the beliefs and values of the people who live there? What part does each of us play in creating a livable city?
Students are introduced to the variety of forces and people that shape communities. They identify and prioritize real problems a city faces such as traffic, pollution, and waste disposal, and explore zoning issues. While designing their own model city out of colorful supplies and recycled materials, students come to understand the complexity of issues associated with planning a modern city and learn how they can contribute to improving the quality of life in their community.
This program meets content standards for science, social studies, technology, and art. This program comes with an Educator Resource Packet that includes pre- and post-visit lessons and information.
Registration Details:
Grades K–5
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:00 pm)
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 4 classes (120 students) at a time.
Return to top
Washington: Symbol and City (Grades 3–5)
Two-Part Field Trip
1.5 hours in classroom; 2 hours at the Museum
How does the nation’s capital balance itself as a national symbol and an evolving city? How have local residents and national influences resolved conflicting interests to find shared solutions?
This program begins in the school classroom where students explore symbolism in architecture using hands-on materials sent by the Museum, or facilitated by a visiting Museum Teacher (for DCPS and DCPCS only). During the second half of this two-part program, students visit the Museum where a Museum Teacher guides them through the Washington: Symbol and City exhibition and an investigation of the issues and conflicts involved in planning and living in the nation’s capital. The trip culminates with students jointly designing and building a new symbolic structure for the city.
This program meets content standards for social studies, language arts, technology, and art. This program comes with a Pre-visit Lesson Kit that includes in-school lessons, information, and materials.
Registration Details:
Grades 3-5
3.5 hours (1.5 hours at school, 2 hours at Museum from 10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$90 per class
The Museum can schedule 1 class (30 students) at a time
Must be booked at least two months in advance to allow hands-on materials to be delivered to the school or to arrange for Museum Teacher pre-visit. Free in-class pre-visit facilitated by NBM teacher is available for DCPS and DCPCS only. If you are interested in arranging this pre-visit, please indicate your interest in the "additional comments" field of your registration form.
Return to top
The Lifecycle of a Building, a Street, and a City (Grades 3-6)
One Field Trip, Two Museums-A joint field trip with the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM)
How and why do buildings change and evolve to adapt to the needs of people? How do streets and cities grow?
The National Building Museum and the Smithsonian American Art Museum (SAAM) are offering a joint field trip that traces how buildings, streets, and whole cities change as the needs of people change. By investigating the historic homes of both museums, students learn about the factors that influenced the creation of each site and how the buildings have been used. Beginning at SAAM, students examine the innovative architecture of its landmark structure, the third oldest building in Washington, and trace the factors that led to its current use as a museum. Students then become historical detectives during a short walk between the two museums (weather permitting) where they investigate a stretch of Seventh Street, NW as it is today and how it was 100 years ago. At the National Building Museum, students identify some of the factors that have changed Seventh Street and imagine what the neighborhood might look like in the future. While learning about the two museum buildings and designing their own model Seventh Street for the future out of colorful supplies and recycled materials, students come to understand the complexity of issues associated with planning a building, a street, and a city.
This program meets content standards for science, social studies, language arts, technology, and art. This program does not come with an Educator Resource Packet.
Registration Details:
Grades 3-6
3 hours (45 minutes for Smithsonian American Art Museum program, 45 minutes for walking investigation between the two museums and lunch, 1 hour for National Building Museum program)
Program begins at 11:00 am at SAAM and ends at 2:00 pm at the National Building Museum.
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 2 classes (60 students) at a time.
Offered on Thursdays only during October, November, March, April, May, and June.
Must be booked at least two months in advance through the National Building Museum.
Return to top
Kids constructing a bridge
Photo by Museum staff
Bridge Basics (Grades 4-8)
Imagine your world without bridges. Would it be possible to get to school or work?
Using bridge construction as a basis for understanding fundamental structural engineering concepts, students explore how and why bridges are built. The program presents bridges as structural solutions to specific problems and introduces students to basic bridge types such as truss, beam, arch, cable-stayed, and suspension. Students become engineers and work in teams to build model bridges that solve transportation problems while balancing issues of aesthetics, geography, materials, and cost.
This program meets content standards for math, science, social studies, language arts, technology, and art. This program comes with an Educator Resource Packet that includes pre- and post-visit lessons and information.
Registration Details:
Grades 4–8
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 2 classes (60 students) at a time.
Return to top
Growing a Green Community (Grades 5-9)
What does it mean to build a “green” community? What can we modify or make greener in our existing communities?
What decisions need to be made, and who will make them?
Utilizing the Museum’s new exhibition Green Community as a learning tool, students explore what makes a community environmentally sustainable, or “green,” by investigating visual images of green communities locally and around the world. Working in groups, students will plan a model green community of the future. As both citizens and consumers, students come to understand the complexity of issues associated with making green living decisions and the effect those decisions have on their everyday lives. Please note that students will not be building anything during this program, instead they will be planning how to rebuild a sample community.
This program meets content standards for science, social studies, language arts, technology, and art. This program does not come with an Educator Resource Packet.
Registration Details:
Grades 4–9
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Maximum class size 30 students
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 2 classes (60 students) at a time.
Program will be offered November 3-June 12.
Return to top
A school group works together to construct a geodesic dome in the Great Hall.
Photo by Museum Staff
Fuller's Fantastic Geodesic Dome (Grades 5–9)
What is a geodesic dome? Why is this structure architecturally significant?
American inventor, engineer, and architect R. Buckminster Fuller may be best remembered for developing the structurally-innovative geodesic dome, which has been called, “the strongest, most cost-effective structure ever devised.” Students learn how engineering principles are used to support different structures and how Fuller’s interlocking systems of triangles are used to construct domes that distribute stress and weight in the most economical way possible. Students work together to construct a 6.5 x 13’ geodesic dome in the Museum’s Great Hall and apply what they have learned by assembling their own, simple “geo” balls.
This program meets content standards for math, science, social studies, technology, and art. This program comes with an Educator Resource Packet that includes pre- and post-visit lessons and information.
Registration Details:
Grades 5–9
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Minimum class size 15 students/Maximum class size 30 students
Please note: Structure might not be completed in the time allotted if there are less than 15 students.
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule up to 2 classes (60 students) at a time.
Limited availability! Please note that this program fills quickly.
Return to top
Participants construct a model house in the Museum’s “Be a Builder” program.
Photo by Museum staff
Be a Green Builder (Grades 5–9)
What makes a building stand up? How do builders decide which materials to use during construction? How can materials contribute to a more sustainable house?
Students act as carpenters and use power screwdrivers to assemble an 8 x 11’ house from the ground up. While building, they learn about the hidden features that support buildings – foundations, wall frames, and trusses. Once the floor is completed, the walls are raised, and the roof secured, students can go inside the house and see firsthand how their hard work has paid off! A variety of building materials are presented and discussed throughout the program to introduce students to sustainable “green” building choices. They weigh the pros and cons of building materials and explore how to select a material based upon factors such as strength, durability, appearance, cost, availability, and environmentally-friendly qualities.
This program meets content standards for math, science, social studies, technology, and art. This program does not come with an Educator Resource Packet.
Registration Details:Grades 5–9
2 hours (10:00 am-12:00 pm or 12:30-2:30 pm)
Minimum class size 15 students/Maximum class size 30 students
Please note: Structure might not be completed in the time allotted if there are less than 15 students.
Minimum of four chaperones required per program
$75 per class
The Museum can schedule 1 class (30 students) per day. On a day in which the program is offered at 10:00 am it cannot also be offered at 12:30 pm, and vice versa.
Limited availability! Please note that this program fills quickly.
Return to top
