The Architecture Kit - a hands on course for children about the built environment and its future.
The Architecture Kit is a course made of a series of 8 lessons in which children receive individual and reusable educational toys kits that help them discover the 8 aspects of being an architect. The project is destined mostly to disadvantaged communities. The project is implemented by volunteer local or classroom teachers who are able to facilitate the activities following a specific training. This aspect, combined with the reusable nature of the materials, insures long term increased impact.
National
Romania
The counties (judet) of: Alba Iulia, Arges, Botoșani, Brașov, Brăila, Buzău, Călărași, Cluj, Dâmbovița, Dolj, Galați, Iași, Ilfov, Prahova, Sibiu
It addresses urban-rural linkages
It refers to other types of transformations (soft investment)
No
No
Yes
As a representative of an organisation
Name of the organisation(s): Asociația eematico Type of organisation: Non-profit organisation First name of representative: Ion Last name of representative: Neculai Gender: Male Nationality: Romania Function: Co-founder and manager Address (country of permanent residence for individuals or address of the organisation)<br/>Street and number: Puțul cu Plopi, Nr.12 Town: Bucharest Postal code: 010178 Country: Romania Direct Tel:+40 744 150 928 E-mail:ion@eematico.org Website:https://eematico.org
In 2021, we won a grant from the Romanian Order of Architects to develop a new project that would help children learn about architecture and the build environment through hands-on, play based activities. We successfully implemented the project in 2021-22 and managed to bring forward some important results, mostly in the area of outputs, that allowed us to earn a new round of financing for 2022-23 to help us improve and expand the project. The project also won the first prize in the Education, Learning and Research category of the 2022 edition of Gala Societății Civile. Until now we have trained 32 teachers from 14 counties and 476 children took the course.
The project is called Kitul de Arhitectura / The architecture kit. The initial version was a series of 7 lessons in which children, grades 1 to 8, received individual working educational toys kits, combined with computer activities and video tutorials, that helped them discover the 7 aspects of being an architect. In 2022-2023 we have expanded the number of lessons to 8.
To increase the output, the outcome, and, hopefully, the impact of our project, instead of us doing directly the implementation we trained local teachers, our secondary beneficiaries, to be able to do the activities in the classroom and, in doing so, increased their skills and knowledge. What is more, the kits are reusable so, in combination with the training of the teachers, this means that the project can be repeated as many times as possible, going beyond the initial number of children involved.
The idea is to help children, and teachers, learn about the built environment, this profession, about the building process and what opportunities, constraints, challenges and responsibilities this brings about. The built environment in Romania is chaotic and having a detrimental impact on the lives of citizens, especially in underprivileged communities. This is a result of very little education in the area of architecture and built environment.
Education
Hands-on
Architecture
Inclusive
Sustainability
In terms of sustainability we have had two main directions of work. One was to make sure that the project was sustainable long term and can continue independently from the financing it received. Secondly, because the course was based on an complex set of physical educational materials, we had to make sure that the impact on the environment would be minimal. We are also happy that we managed to achieve both goals through de design of our concept and methods.
The core idea was centered around two concepts. Hands-on activities, where children would play building and creating structures, would be based on reusable materials. This way we reduce material consumption and increase the lifespan of the project.
Furthermore, instead of limiting the implementation period by doing ourselves the facilitation activities, we prepared a program to train local teachers. We sent invitations and looked for volunteer teachers, explaining the nature of the project and their long term responsibilities. This way we made sure that there were working only with motivated and engaged people. The teachers then underwent a training program, received the kits of materials and started implementing. After one year we managed to more then double the initial number of children involved in the project.
Finally, we made sure that the materials were made in a sustainable way. The kits are 90% made out of wood with several other parts made of cardboard, textile materials and very little amounts of metal and plastic. The materials were planned to resilient and, based on our current experience, require a replacement rate of about 3-5% per year.
Our claim is that our initiative is unique in it’s approach of hands-on education promoting long term sustainability and impact by focusing on reusable kits of educational materials as well as an approach where continuity and sustainability is insured by training local trainers instead of doing direct implementation through the organizations facilitators.
The Architecture Kit is also meant to be a creative experience for all the children, even ones with special needs. It is meant to be an opportunity for them to explore their creativity in the context of architecture and the built environment. The kits are tools for them to explore different compositions and volumes and, when they complete the structures add color and decorative elements that reflect their own personality. They just receive a discreet guidance from the facilitators and through the modularity and characteristics of the kits.
In terms of design, form follows function, that is the motto we work by. That being said we took great care to offer children a beautiful canvas for them to express their own creativity. As mentioned before we mostly use wood for the building elements with just small metal or plastic elements that act as connectors or technical elements (such as pipes or cables for the lesson on installations). The pieces have a functional yet balanced design, allowing as many combinations as possible, to provide enrichment for children through multiple, yet curated, creative possibilities.
In general we believe that the course is a great cultural benefit for their children. Architecture is the most pervasive form of art that humans encounter. And yet it is the one that is more neglected or subjected to the least curation possible. Architecture makes up the environment in which most of us spend their time. And yet there is little education related to it. Our hope is that our initiative, alongside other similar initiatives, helps in closing this gap. Our approach is different in that it focuses mostly on play based hands-on activities. Children discover mainly through building, exploration and less through theoretical inputs, even in the case of the computer activities. In doing so we try to offer a cultural experience based mostly on their natural ways of discovering and understanding the world.
Our hybrid organization uses its for-profit activities to generate the income necessary for developing our products and methods. One of the missions our NGO is to find ways to deliver those products to disadvantaged communities, to make otherwise expensive hands-on education, free for children whose parents can not afford it. Funding for non-formal extracurricular activities is scarce so we have devised methods to increase the impact of that funding. The activities in the course are implemented by local teachers that volunteered to participate. Our knowledge is transferred to them through a series of trainings. In doing so not only do we provide them with the necessary skills to facilitate the activities but also with new skills and knowledge useful to them and their job. Additionally, all materials are reusable and with a budget that would have allowed us to reach a maximum 100 kids we managed to reach 32 teachers and 466 children.
We are strong advocates of gender equality. The activities in this course are seen by most parents as “activities for boys”. We actively work to break this barrier and have promoted, advocated and delivered our activities without discrimination to both girls and boys. Classrooms where children are mixed are the best implementation ground for us. With the help of the teachers, we have managed to reduce those barriers. By involving both girls and boys in common activities, or by bringing together children from different backgrounds to work on the same projects.
Again, since our project is dedicated to classrooms, and many classes in disadvantaged communities are open to children with special needs, we have made sure that the materials and activities are available and friendly to everyone.
We believe that our project has refined an good method for making expensive hands-on learning experience about architecture (that could also work on other subjects) in an efficient and effective way, increasing affordability and inclusion.
One of the cornerstones of this project has been involving teachers in the implementation. Beyond increasing the impact of the project in terms of output there are several additional reasons. Local teachers are seen as leaders and influencers in their community and schools. Especially the ones in grades 1 to 4. Their endorsement of the project and it’s methods sends a clear message to members of the community and the administration of the school.
During the implementation of the project they made sure that the school administration was onboard and supporting the project which in turn sent another important message within the community as well as to other teachers in the school. As a result there have been other teachers volunteering for the project and children from other classes asking to participate in the course. Furthermore, teachers have been advocates of the project in front of the parents, an important factor in some disadvantaged contexts where parents may be reluctant to new activities or to children spending more time at school .
Last year some teachers organized exhibitions with the projects of the children. Based on that and subsequent discussions with them we decided in 2022-23 to add a new activity that would be oriented to the local communities. They would be like open workshops where children and teachers from other classes would be invited as well as parents. We want architecture and, more importantly, the built environment to become a subject of interest and, in time, a preoccupation for citizens. Parents can open up by seeing their children get interested in the subject. And children can become future engaged citizens in the shaping of their village, town or city. Teachers will make sure the interest is kept alive in time and through the generations.
The project was implemented at a national level, in different communities, mostly remote and /or disadvantaged. The most important stakeholders were the children and the teachers. The first year teachers were involved in the implementation. They helped with legal procedures, setting up things at a local level and making sure they kept children engaged through the implementation process. They went beyond that role and became vectors for promoting and even implementing the project in other groups. They spontaneously started implementing activities in other classes and even convinced some of their colleagues to join in the project.
Teachers and children were involved as well in the design process. The first year their contribution related mostly to fine tuning activities, providing feedback and creating adaptations depending on their own contexts. For instance they came up with ideas on how to add different team exercises for the children or create an additional exercise for the lesson on Urban planning, where the entire class would pool their resources to create a big model of a city. They also came up with the idea of creating exhibitions with the projects of the children and we provided with all the needed support.
The second year of implementation, when we did some improvement on the activities, we gathered their feedback and ideas, as well as feedback from the children, and then looked for ways to implement them in the modifications we created. Many of the suggestions created nice improvements and, as mentioned before, a whole new activity. For instance de redesign of lesson 5 came as a result of feedback regarding usability as well as desire to include more aspects regarding sustainability. The 8-th lesson, dedicated mainly to community activities, was mainly the idea of the teachers and children from the first implementation.
Our approach has always been a multidisciplinary one. Our team consists of people with different, relevant backgrounds such as psychology, pedagogy, design and architecture, sociology, anthropology, marketing and PR. And whenever we design projects we combine these different experiences to get the best results in educational as well as implementation terms. The architecture Kit was no different. The team was made of Bogdan Balanescu, a psychologist, specialized in design of educational materials and toys, Carolina Pascal, a linguist that has specialized in curriculum design and facilitation, Ioana Iancu, an anthropologist specialized in facilitation and PR, Flavia Fabian, a psychologist specialized in graphic design, Ion Neculai, an architect with experience in both building design as well as architecture teaching, Ingrid Posluschnik, a psychologist specialized in educational video creation and Radu Chivulescu, a psychologist, specialized in design of computer based educational activities.
Carolina wrote the curriculum and was involved in training the teachers, Bogdan designed the toys and materials kits, Radu realized the computer activities, Ingrid and Ioana created the video tutorials, Flavia created the supporting graphic materials and Ion coordinated the entire effort. Architecture was at the center but the different and complementary specialities of the team members allowed for a more complex, richer product to emerge. The result was a course about architecture and the built environment that offered children and teachers a learning experience that combines hands-on education through building activities based on the kits of materials, complementary interactive computer activities and video tutorials and beautiful graphics to tie everything in. Another outcome was a set of materials that can help teachers in presenting other subject such as mathematics, physics, sustainability.
First is the actual concept of the activities. It’s a hands on course about architecture. But it’s based on a set of educational materials kits, building sets that each child uses to construct their own project. The pieces are made in such a way that they can be reused. The sets are well made, with durable materials. Their structure helps directing the building and playing process while at the same time offering enough space for creativity and exploration.
In direct relation with the materials, another innovative character of our initiative is
that it combines this hands-on experience with interactive computer activities and tutorials. The computer activities are meant for children to further explore the 7 subjects of the course and gain more knowledge by experimentation and further creative activities. The video tutorials are meant to present in a fun and pleasant way more information about each subject. This is, to our knowledge a unique combination and approach. The entire experience proved extremely attractive to children who have enjoyed ways of learning that are close to their desires and needs.
Another innovative aspect of our initiative is based on a process where local teachers are the ones facilitating the activities. The novelty lies in the fact that they do so with hands on activities, based on complex sets of materials, that they get to keep for further classes and generations. They develop new skills and methods in terms of hands-on learning and also receive materials that can be used either for the activities of the course or can be integrated in other non-academic or academic activities (such as geometry , physics or studying the environment).
All this of course collaborates in giving our initiative a high degree of sustainability both in terms of the logistics of the project as well as in the implementation aspects. We also believe our initiative managed by design to integrate well the three aspects of the New Bauhaus Movement.
In terms of transfer to other places and beneficiaries, this project, as we have shown, is extremely versatile and mobile. In fact it was designed to be so. The concepts of local implementation and reusable hands-on learning sets are core to this process. Once the materials are in place the trainings are easy to do. They can be done face to face or online. The online version has allowed us to do the trainings in the farthest corners of Romania with very little effort. All we needed is provide the teachers with their own sets of materials and the training program. Afterwords they can implement with the reusable sets of materials, relying on the illustrated curriculum, the video tutorials and even our constant support. Once our course has reached a community expanding it to other teachers or neighboring schools is extremely easy, and has been proven so by the teachers themselves.
The project has also allowed us to experiment and refine a blueprint for similar projects. We are now interested in applying these methods to other subjects that might be interesting to the children - such as the science of the human body, the science of sustainability, the science of flying. But we are also open to sharing our methods with other organizations that work in similar educational fields and that are looking for easily scalable and sustainable projects. We can implement the project in their communities, share with them what is needed so they can replicate the project locally or develop together new similar initiatives on various subjects. One way we will do this during a special event this summer. We want to prepare a workshop where local and regional actors in the field of non-formal education can come together and discuss innovative methods.
There are three main aspects of our methodology. First is our hands-on approach to learning. We try and create relevant and enjoyable experiences for children where they can learn intuitively, effortlessly. So we provide them with educational materials, learning toys, sets where they can learn through building and playing with their creations. The lessons in the course are about The Urban Planner, The geological engineer, The Structural Engineer, The Architect, The Mechanical Engineer, The Designer, The Landscape Architect and a final community oriented activity. In the case of the Urban Planner, children get a series of grid boards, buildings, we provide them with rules and regulations and then let them create their own city. The buildings have generic shapes that they can attribute functions to and decorate.
Another aspect is the combination of methods. Besides the toys we have computer interactive activities. They provide children with further exploration opportunities that can not be created through physical materials and also allow them to learn by using technology which is of great interest to them. The video tutorials are meant to offer further information about the subject, in a way that is familiar and pleasant.
A third piece is the transfer of knowledge. The pandemic forced us to downsize and so we had to imagine ways to promote education through other people, not just us. So we developed a way of transferring our knowledge. This meant not just training for the specific hands-on activities, with trainees building what children would later build. But also teaching the hands-on mindset, ways to engage and interact with children in such activities, exploring all the sides of the experience with an open mind and providing them with the support they needed in their journey.
Finally everything we do has to convey and teach beauty to children, has to be sustainable - both in composition and meaning and has to be friendly to any child.
The main global sustainability challenge we are working on (inside-out), connecting to SDG’s, is to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. We do that to help children better understand what they discover, in life or formal educational institutions, through activities that are closer to their natural way of learning - playing and building. Our activities try to be as open ended as possible, encouraging curiosity and experimentation, so we can foster a desire and pleasure for lifelong learning. In this case we chose learning about architecture and the built environment. It is something humans interact most with, so kids should know about it how and they can influence it in a positive way to become engaged citizens.
We focus a lot on trying to reach children from disadvantaged communities or from discriminated communities such as the roma communities. Funding comes from grants and sponsorships and allows us to implement without any financial constraints. So we deliver it to where it is most needed and wanted. Our courses are designed in such a way that they can be used by any child without limitations. We are very passionate about creating opportunities were children from minorities learn, play and think about the future, without segregation. We are also extremely passionate about eliminating any divide between girls and boys. We integrate in our courses and materials all types of activities that would be interesting to anyone. We deliver activities to mixed classes and encourage both boys and girls to try activities that they (or they parents) perceive as more appropriate for the other gender.
Our project is not specifically about the environment but the activities and materials try to convey information and healthy habits that promote sustainability.
On both issues we focus on promoting these values to teachers that will implement these activities and become themselves vectors for these values.
The project was first developed in 2021. Back then we managed to develop the curriculum, kits of educational toys and all supporting educational materials - computer activities, video tutorials and training program. We then selected the teachers that will be implementing the project in their communities and did the trainings with them. And then we started the delivery of kits to the communities and the teachers did the implementation. Through our awareness and fundraising efforts we managed to secure funding for additional classes, as the initial demand was higher than planned. Through extra funding but also, through the efforts of the teachers and the reusable nature of our project involved, we managed to deliver the course to 216 children instead of 175 and train 10 teachers instead of 7, with the use of 205 kits. The first cycle was closed with a final report that was delivered to the main funder of the project, The Romanian Order of Architects.
The results that went beyond the initial targets, as well as the positive feedback from the teachers and the children, helped us secure funding for a second cycle of implementation. This cycle began in June 2022 and will train further 12 teachers and deliver 260 kits that will be used by them and an initial number of 260 children with a potential to increase to 390. The project came with several improvements such as modifying 5-th lesson (mechanical engineer) to offer a more sustainable perspective as well as adding an 8-th activity that would be community oriented and would allow participating children to showcase their projects and engage with parents and children from other classes. The second cycle of implementation of the initiative is now in progress, and we have managed again to increase the output by including 10 more teachers. We are looking forward to more years of implementation, improved and new activities related to the subject as well as an extended reach.
Although the course is centered around teaching children and the teachers about architecture and the built environment, there are several aspects that are focused around promoting competences in the areas of sustainability.
In general one can not talk about the built environment without having in mind a sustainable way of developing or managing it. The issue is all the more important since our aim is to plant the seeds of future engaged citizens in terms of the shaping of the built environment. So, in our activities, we explore with the children the importance of green spaces, sustainable building by using local resources and sustainable materials, clean waters, the importance of recycling in terms of garbage management for a community, as well as sustainable and green sources of energy. These aspects are discussed all throughout the course with a special attention to green and sustainable energy and waste management in the lesson about Mechanical and Electrical Engineering.
All these aspects are all the more crucial as the first recipients of this knowledge are the teachers. Developing their knowledge and competences in this area, developing their skills to present such matters in a way that is attractive and engaging for children, makes sure that the effects of our initiative move beyond the current cycles of implementation, well into the future, to many generations.
