During the school year, thousands of students and their teachers came to the Museum to build an 8’ x 11’ house, construct a geodesic dome, investigate the exhibition Tools as Art, explore bridge basics, or plan a city using cardboard boxes. They participated in the Museum’s school programs, which are designed to meet local and national standards of learning and teach young people observation, analytical, and problem-solving skills. The programs inspire students to take a closer look at the people, processes, and materials that create buildings and places through investigative and fun hands-on activities. Classroom teachers also received educator resource packets, which were improved in 2003 with the production of new visual aids and the addition of fresh resources. Teacher evaluations overwhelmingly endorsed the quality and value of the school programs, with 81 percent of the teachers using the information and experiences gained in school programs in their classroom activities. During fiscal year 2003, nearly 17,000 students and teachers took advantage of the Museum’s school program offerings.