ArchiSmArt
Program
Creative education, more conscious life
ArchiSmArt combines the principles of architectural education with the development of psychomotor skills, promoting the integrated maturing of children on several closely related levels: knowledge of their bodies, the physical space they inhabit and their emotions.
This is an educational proposal for personal development, learning and well-being, based on expression activities and the arts. It provides tools for integral growth: body, mind, spirit and the emotions in relation to the environment and nature.
Keep reading
The curriculum is specifically designed for children 6-14 years old, organized in short units. It stimulates the children’s natural curiosity and desire to explore, and at the same time relies on them as engines for learning, generating play spaces that allow individual and shared exploration of knowledge and human relationships.
Objectives
Three-dimensional learning
As a multidisciplinary educational program, its objectives cover a wide range of concepts, practices and skills that complement and enrich curricular contents.
• Experiment with various artistic techniques and different materials.
• Develop the ability to work in a team, to observe, identify problems and find creative solutions.
• Exercise creativity, sensitivity, imagination and aesthetic appreciation.
• Acquire analytical tools for solving problems inherent in the design and creative processes.
Keep reading
• Explore one’s emotions, learn to respect the emotions of others and build together an empathetic and respectful work environment.
• Build up a sensory awareness of space through dance improvisation, free play and exploration.
• Work on attention, concentration and relaxation through yoga and ATB exercises.
• Analyze how people actively relate to space using the five senses.
• Understand the relationship between the built and natural environments, and between sustainable development and quality of life.
• Discover architecture as a creative intellectual endeavor of research and design grounded in humanity, culture, heritage, nature and society.
Tools
Discover the world with other eyes
ArchiSmArt works on perception and body awareness in relation to architecture, exploring social and emotional aspects with various tools. It can be synthesized in the following formula:
Art + Spontaneous Play + Movement + Space =
Freedom, Identity, Self-esteem, Responsibility, Respect
Art
Artistic activities open up a new world of possibilities for children, who take on the main role in their creative adventures. The activities awaken their amazement, emotion, imagination and creativity.
Keep reading
Spontaneous play
Through play, children learn about their own bodies and emotions, building firm bonds of friendship and understanding with their peers. Play activates and integrates all body systems, enhancing the learning process in an easy and positive way.
Movement
Children express themselves through free movement and guided activities, working with respect and care for their bodies. Movement leads them to understand internal and external space, physical and social space, changes, mutations and transformations.
Arquitectural space
Through the creation of experimental, learning models of architecture, children actively reflect on the notions of matter, structure and light, in relation to the creative forces of nature.
Learning units
A laboratory of ideas and creation
Learning units and activities:
• Catching the light
• Urban walk
• On the move
• Flexible architecture
• Long journeys
• We are what we feel
• Materials and the magic of mixing
Get to know some of our activities
Learning unit 1:
Catching the light
Curricular areas: Natural sciences. Arts. Knowledge of the environment (ecosystems, erosion, magnetic fields, invisible energy).
Participants: Children 6-9 years old and 10-14 years old.
Number of classes: 6.
Objectives:
• Motivate children’s curiosity about daily occurring physical phenomena.
• Deepen children’s knowledge of the environment, ecosystems, erosion and magnetic fields, trying to integrate the scientific method with artistic creation.
Keep reading
The activity explained
1. As an introduction, we begin by working on the concept of magnetic fields. Then we explore the effects of magnets in the presence of metallic materials, such as paper clips, hooks, nails, screws and wires. We also experiment/play with light.
2. The activity begins with individual tasks. Afterwards, children get together in groups of 4-5, sharing their observations to produce hypotheses about magnetic fields. Each one contributes his/her own ideas for group discussion.
3. The groups create cubic structures with the objective of capturing light.
4. These structures or machines have no specific function, and serve the sole purpose of creating and building something together, and then sharing the experience of the process.
5. Children’s creations remain on display for a few days.
Results:
• Expand the knowledge of some physical laws of nature, such as magnetism or the characteristics of light.
• Enhance the feeling of connectedness between nature and human beings.
• Gain a better understanding of the idea of unity in diversity.
Learning unit 2:
The long journeys
Curricular areas: Natural sciences. Social sciences. Knowledge of human nature. Language skills.
Participants: Children 6-9 years old and 10-14 years old.
Number of classes: 4.
Objectives:
• Learn about the origin of ancient civilizations, the voyages of discovery and conquest of the 15th and 16th centuries.
• Learn about and respect different cultures.
• Expand the process of communication and creation.
Keep reading
The activity explained:
Part One
1. We begin by studying the discovery stories of ancient travelers and navigators as a way to approach the knowledge of History and Geography (historical context, continents, oceans, different habitats, flora and fauna, etc.).
2. We then create a travel log, to record what we have learned.
Segunda parte
1. Although from a Western standpoint the cultures discovered by the navigators were “primitive”, many of them were advanced and well organized. These voyages generated a fertile and productive exchange of knowledge concerning the diverse ways in which human societies live.
2. Oral tradition was dominant in many ancient civilizations, as a way of perpetuating the memory of traditions and other elements of culture. Likewise, totems and tattoos were devices commonly used for storytelling about a person, family or culture, as well as a means for passing on knowledge to future generations.
3. We look for elements that relate to identity and work on the creation of a personal totem that represents real or fictional stories.
4. Working together in the creation of a collective, non-verbal language is a productive communication practice among students who may come from very different cultures.
Resultados:
• Connect to one’s own roots.
• Learn respect for other cultures.
• Understand that all human beings are important.
• Expand our sense of belonging to reach all of humanity.
• Develop communication skills.
“Movement is something that goes about inside of you.”