It’s never too young to start thinking like an architect.

AIA is committed to helping young people discover architecture and design through exploration, drawing, and hands-on building activities.

In collaboration with our members and educational experts, AIA has created 11 engaging problem-based classroom activities for K-12 students that use real-world problems to spark interest in the architecture profession, explain its impact, and foster students’ critical design thinking skills.

Each problem scenario includes a grade-level appropriate lesson guide and activity sheets that will help students work through the lesson. Topics range from disaster recovery and resilience to environmental stability, with scenarios such as building a homeless shelter that solver a social need with innovative design.

For all 11 classroom activities, you’ll find:

• Student activity sheet (PDF fillable)
• Background information
• The problem
• Learning resources
• Hands-on activities
• Video inspiration from the AIA Film Challenge

We’d love to see your work! Post your solutions to your preferred social channel using the hashtag #AIAK12.