One School’s Journey With Arckit
A few months ago a gifted teacher called Julia Dweck from East Pennsylvania School District got in touch with us having spotted Arckit on LinkedIn. She was very eager to introduce our ‘hands-on’ platform to her students as a new method of creating architectural models and as a collaborative tool for her classroom.
Since then, Julia has been actively sharing her students journey online which began with a virtual meeting I had with them to set them on their way. It has been a joy to see their progress throughout and I would say a fitting example of how Arckit can be instrumental in positively transforming any classroom. We're so looking forward to continue following their progress with Arckit. Here are Julia’s words.
"While on LinkedIn, I was attracted to an image of a beautifully complex structure made out of small architectural elements like doors, windows, and roof lines with a system called, Arckit. In the past, I’d tried architectural projects with my students using recycled cardboard. While it was always a fun experience, we never were able to meet the level of sophistication reflected in the image of the Arckit structure that caught my eye.
Once I read the subtext, I realized that Arckit is an architectural building block platform for students as young as the elementary students with which I work. Of course, I was cautiously optimistic. Would my students be able to meet the challenge of constructing with Arckit?
The skeptic in me decided that I needed to try assembling a model first, so I dove into the Arckit 100 series. The image-rich instructions made the task less arduous than I’d imagined. It was only attaching the roof that gave me a bit of trouble, which made me wonder how my students would do. I instructed them to follow the Arckit instruction manual for the first three models before moving onto designing their own dream houses.
Students worked in groups of three and dove in with a significantly lower level of apprehension than I had. These are children who’ve been raised on Legos and so their level of agility handling parts and prior experience made for an even smoother construction process than mine. They could have taught me!
They were as excited as I was when I first saw the Linkedin image. There was a high level of excitement as students expressed their delight in building with Arckit. The kits inspired their enthusiasm, imaginations, and sparked a desire to pursue architectural careers in some students. Girls have been eager to create and design with Arckit, not deterred by their limited prior experience with block building systems.
It’s the simplicity of the pieces that encourage even the most reluctant students to dive in and build the world, not as it is, but as they would like it to be!”
If you are a teacher or a school interested in introducing Arckit to your students, we’d love to hear from you. You can do so by emailing us at info@arckit.com and we will promptly reply.
