Professional Development: The National Institute

Immerse yourself in the buildings, bridges, monuments, parks, and historic districts of New York City. Through walking tours, visits to architectural and engineering firms and construction sites, and hands-on exploration of Salvadori lesson plans, you will be engaged in projects that address math, science, literacy, technology, social studies, and fine arts. Salvadori educators will help you develop project-based lesson plans specific to your curriculum and your "landscape." (Click on the picture to the left to see last year's participants.)

You will also have housing on the beautiful campus of City College of New York, an architectural gem featuring, among other things, buildings that echo older universities like Oxford and Cambridge as well as 600 grotesques and gargoyles adorning windows, eaves, and roofs.

• Evening cultural programs, tours and meals included
• On-campus housing available
• DATES: July 20 - 26, 2008
• COST: $1000 per person - Includes lodging [$650 without lodging], most meals, field trips, cultural events, and materials. There is a discount for 2 or more teachers from the same school or district.

To register for the Institutes, you can download an application packet in PDF (434KB). If you have any questions, call Executive Director Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone at (212) 650-5740 or send her an email.

NOTE: If the National Institute does not fit your schedule, you may find our three-day Turbo Institute more accommodating, which runs July 8 - 10, 2008, at City College.

Our founder, Mario Salvadori, a world-renowned structural engineer, believed that the built environment held all the knowledge that a person needed to be an intelligent and active member of the community. What teachers need to make this knowledge available to their students are tools with which they can "unpack" the knowledge embedded in the built environment.

The Salvadori Center gives these tools to teachers and students through a pedagogy grounded in what it calls "project-based, hands-on/minds-on activities" that employ the principles of architecture, engineering, and the design process. Through this method, teachers and their students can unlock the math, science, art, and humanities embodied in the structures and systems that surround them.