The Skyscraper Museum is devoted to the study of high-rise building, past, present, and future. The Museum explores tall buildings as objects of design, products of technology, sites of construction, investments in real estate, and places of work and residence. This site will look better in a browser that supports web standards, but it is accessible to any browser or Internet device.
LESSON & RESOURCES
INDEX:
Tower Tube / Supplementary Materials
Lesson 1: What is a Skyscraper
Lesson 2: Designing a Skyscraper
Lesson 3: Building a Skyscraper
Lesson 4: Changes in a City over Time
Additional Activities
Green Resources
Recommended Reading
Empire State Building Run-Up
Junior High Document-Based Question
NEW! High School Activities
NEW! Introduction to High School Dossiers
NEW! High School Document-Based Question DOSSIER 1
NEW! High School Document-Based Question DOSSIER 2
Webquests
VIVA
Timeformations
Tallest Towers
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Lesson 1: What is a Skyscraper?
Students inductively discover the characteristics of skyscrapers as they complete a "Skyscraper Detectives" activity that invites them to examine an array of the Museum's archival images.
[DOWNLOAD LESSON] [DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY]
Lesson 2: Designing a Skyscraper
Students examine archival photographs of the Empire State Building site and explore its construction. Through analysis of primary source documents, students develop a sense of the scope of skyscraper construction.
[DOWNLOAD LESSON] [DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY 1]
Lesson 3: Building a Skyscraper
A variety of exploration stations allow students to explore principles crucial to skyscraper construction. They concurrently learn the terminology and parts of a skyscraper, and practice using these terms with images.
[DOWNLOAD LOWER ELEMENTARY LESSON]
[DOWNLOAD UPPER ELEMENTARY LESSON]
[DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY 1] [DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY 2] [DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY 3]
[DOWNLOAD SKYSCRAPER PHOTOGRAPH MASTER]
Lesson 4: Changes in a City over Time
Students practice close looking skills using images of the Manhattan skyline from three different time periods. They infer the likely changes that transpire in a city over time, and create their own imagined skyline from a time period either in the future or the past.
[DOWNLOAD LESSON] [DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY 1] [DOWNLOAD ACTIVITY 2] [DOWNLOAD HISTORIC NYC SKYLINES]
Green Resources
Collected here are highlights from the Museum's extensive archive of green multimedia. Classes can explore this material as a group, or individually - either as enrichment or as part of a lesson. Students should notice the changes in building that is leading to more environmentally friendly cities, and consider what green innovations they see in their own lives.
Recommended Reading (K-12)
Books selected by The Skyscraper Museum enhance and enrich student learning about skyscrapers, complete with suggested activities.
[DOWNLOAD LESSON]
ESB Run-Up (4-6)
Students learn about the real, vertical race to the top of the Empire State Building and then use a chart of race results to solve an array of challenging mathematics problems. This engaging activity can be used in a single class period or a take-home activity.
[DOWNLOAD LESSON]
Junior High Level Document-Based Question
The documents in this DBQ vary in their level of difficulty, but prompt the students to write an essay about the Empire State Building.
[DOWNLOAD LESSON]
[DOWNLOAD DOCUMENTS]
Introduction to High School Materials
[DOWNLOAD HIGH SCHOOL INTRO]
High School Level Document-Based Question Dossier 1
[DOWNLOAD TEACHER GUIDE TO DOSSIER 1]
[DOWNLOAD STUDENT GUIDE TO DOSSIER 1]
[DOWNLOAD DOSSIER 1 IMAGE PACKET]
High School Level Document-Based Question Dossier 2
[DOWNLOAD TEACHER GUIDE TO DOSSIER 2]
[DOWNLOAD STUDENT GUIDE TO DOSSIER 2]
[DOWNLOAD DOSSIER 2 IMAGE PACKET]
VIVA Webquest
[DOWNLOAD WEBQUEST]
Timeformations Webquest
[DOWNLOAD WEBQUEST]
Tallest Towers Webquest
[DOWNLOAD WEBQUEST]
