Right Brain Curriculum Programs (Grades 2-5)
This program is currently unavailable. Click here to view all of our current programs.
Future House (4-week program)
What will life on Earth be like a century from now? In our Future House class, students imagine and design their home in the year 2117. First, they study what daily life was like one hundred years ago and then they consider how life might change one hundred years in the future. They study the writings of futurists, learn about new "smart homes" and consider what phones, stoves, sofas, televisions and cars might look like in one hundred years. Students use math, writing and presentation skills as they draw up an extensive blueprint of their future house, write a "Day in the Life" story about 2117 and work with geometric calculations as they design their blueprint. Time travel may not really be possible but our Future House students will find themselves in a different time and place!
The Lego Civics Project: Green City
As students create a model Lego city, the focus is on the environment. The class learns about electrical grids, recycling, trash collection, water and air pollution. Students meet as a city council to debate environmental laws and the effect of endangered species laws, pollution regulations, automobiles and nature preserves on both ecology and the economy. Students will detain whether the benefit of having the convenience of cars offsets the pollution they cause. They contemplate scenarios as a City Council such as an issue arising when a company that wants to move into town to produce furniture wishes to locate in the same area as endangered arctic foxes. The Council must decide what to do! Students must also weigh the effects of coal, oil, natural gas and green power as they decide how to power their city. A fun and engaging way to learn about the environment.
The Lego Civics Project: Taking Care of Business
In this class students create the downtown Main Street of a Lego City as each student constructs a business of their own design They learn about profits, budgets taxes, insurance and marketing as students design their own company and storefront. They must create their own marketing campaign and advertise to the other members of the city. They learn abut fire, flood and disaster insurance and must decide whether it is worth spending on insurance for their own business. The business owners also meet as a city council and debate issues that could affect the city's business environment from parking meters to taxes to health care for workers to environmental regulations. Students must balance the interests of their businesses with the greater good of their city. A fun and engaging way to learn about economics.
The Lego Civics Project: The Auto City
As students work to create their Lego City, they focus particularly on the role of cars in the modern urban environment. Students learn about the history of automobiles as they create both Lego buildings and the Lego cars that will fill the city streets. They learn about the automobile's relationship to the environment and consider electric cars, car pool lanes and speed limits as they debate car-related laws. Students must decide on the types of roads and highways they will create for their city balancing efficiency, traffic, bikes and pedestrians. They will learn about bridges, ferries and tunnels as they debate the best way to span the river that divides two sections of their city. A fun and engaging way to learn about technology, the environment and politics!