Eileen Biegel

The "Archi-Techs" program, designed by Biegel, is a project-based multimedia learning experience in which her fifth-grade students at R.M. Paterson Elementary School will examine the essential question: "If buildings could talk, what would they tell us about the past?" Technology and architecture will be integrated by the "archi-techs" as they apply social studies, language arts, science and math during the students' year-long study of U.S. history. They will focus on local architecture and national historic buildings within the surrounding counties of Clay, Duval, and St. Johns, all in Florida. Through a variety of field trips to buildings and interviews with local architects and historians, students will begin to piece together the buildings' stories and share a perspective of U.S. history as seen through the buildings of the past. With support of local middle and high school students, the "archi-techs" will create a video podcast. Students will also create a scale model of each of the featured buildings/houses. By doing so, students are able to make a real-life connection to history instead of passively reading about it in a textbook, thus, bringing history to life. Biegel lives in Green Cove Springs.