Buildings and Symmetry

First grade students are becoming architects. Using their classroom SMARTboard, students explored famous buildings around the world and discussed the shapes they saw in the buildings. The students first thought that rectangular and square shaped buildings would be the strongest. Looking at the pyramids, they learned that a building’s strength has more to do with symmetry. Through their explorations, the students decided that a sturdy building has a lot to do with building materials and symmetry. To test their discovery, they went on a Google Expedition and visited the tallest building in the world, Burj Khalifa.  They looked for symmetry, building materials and shapes.  They explored more buildings on their Google Expedition, looking for shapes and symmetry. Their lesson concluded as they designed their own symmetrical building. Architecture 101 at TCS!