" The chapter defines the study of the "built environment" as architecture, landscape architecture, historic preservation and planning. Describing children as natural builders, the author implores parents to enjoy, admire, and enable children to build forts and other items of play (Donohue, 1997). The booklet provides parents with ideas to use with children starting with their own home, such as, showing them how the plumbing and heating systems work. This booklet is geared for use by parents of children up to third grade. In a final statement the importance of teaching architecture is stressed. The author says "Many children, in fact, have strengths in the kind of visual, spatial and tactile thinking that are invoked in architectural design and analysis, that they may not be called upon to use in other school subjects." Donohue stresses that being able to think three-dimensionally can be applied to other subjects and life experiences (Donohue, 1997). While this booklet did not specifically pertain to middle school aged students, it supports the need for education in the architectural field. .
The paper entitled "Bulgaria and Romania: Lessons" discusses ideas that are intended to increase the cultural awareness of middle school students concerning life in Bulgaria and Romania. Part eight of the paper is a lesson entitled "Comparison of Architecture." The objective is to "Enable students to see that the people in Romania and Bulgaria live in a variety of different architectural styles of homes." (Binger, 1996) The author uses the inquiry method by having American students analyze photographs of homes and towns in Bulgaria and Romania and write a description of the life of a person living in one of the houses. The students were shown pictures of famous buildings in the area and had to be able to name and describe them.
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