The Built Environment Education Program

The goal of BEEP is to provide Santa Barbara students, at some point during their third through sixth grade education, enough exposure to built environment concepts that they will:

• Be sensitive to the importance of working in greater harmony with the total environment
• Recognize that they can affect the quality of the environment
• Learn the skills and concepts necessary to allow them to influence the quality of their environment

The Architectural Foundation encourages students to gain this understanding and these skills through a cross-curricular approach through which built environment education concepts are used as a focus to enhance skills in reading, writing, science, math, social studies and art. Teaching about the built environment is an opportunity to connect the classroom curriculum with real life issues and gain problem solving experience.

As a result of increased built environment awareness, we hope that our communities can become more responsible in keeping pace with the needs for services—such as water, sewer, roadways, housing, schools, police and fire protection—which ensure a high quality of living. A greater awareness of how people relate to the world around them can help minimize the impacts of development and create more livable human environments.

The idea for BEEP originated from a variety of sources and programs: A Book of Cities by June McFee, the Source Book (which was concerned with the natural more than the built environment), the National Endowment for the Arts Architects in the Schools program, the City Building Program in Los Angeles, the Art in the Built Environment Program in England, and a project in Portland, Oregon for the Washington County Educational Service District. Although these programs focused on specific environmental issues, CCAIA wanted to establish a curriculum that related to the total environment.

In 1983, Santa Barbara architect Jim Tremaine, AIA, formulated a model program for the Santa Barbara County. With direction from the Children's Creative Project, the Santa Barbara Chapter/AIA, and the Community Environmental Council, Tremaine began a program which eventually encompassed more than eight school districts in Santa Barbara County. Under the direction of the Environmental Awareness Education Committee, the Architectural Foundation created environmental awareness program for public schools. The program is infused into the regular curriculum of math, geography, social studies, science and English and exposes students to real, identifiable situations while teaching the importance of natural resources, the necessity of environmental quality maintenance, and the consequences of individual environmental choices.

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