Botanical Tree House Design

Students this quarter worked with problem-based learning.  We presented them with an issue.  We had recently visited the Botanical Gardens in Norfolk, VA, where students studied the environment and it's natural beauty.  Students created sketches while studying the different elements and principles associated with art and linking it to nature.

After the field trip, students were then presented with a challenge.  The challenge was to design an innovative tree house that would fit into the natural settings of the Botanical Gardens.  It was to be a structure that was made mostly from natural materials and that would hope to serve as a functional piece of art if it were to be built in the gardens. 

Students used a program called Google Sketch-up to create their architectural drawing and blueprint of their idea.  After they created their drawing, students made a three dimensional to scale model of their idea.  These are images of what the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders created.