Imagine being 13 or 14 years old, standing before any one of a number of architectural masterpieces in Italy and teaching your peers about it. Our eighth graders did this and so much more during their just completed 10-day Italian Study Tour of Assisi, Florence, and Rome. The trip provided the opportunity for the boys to visit in-situ the actual paintings, sculpture, and architectural sites they have studied and researched in their art history class. At each site, they deepened their understanding through reflective journaling and sketching what they saw. Some examples: At Santa Croce, an eighth grader teaches his classmates about the Niccolo Matas, the Jewish architect who designed the basilica's facade: “You can see the Star of David at the top of the Church, despite it being Franciscan.” At ll Duomo, a boy shares the design considerations that went into constructing Filippo Brunelleschi's dome: "They used an octagon shape and ribs to help support and distribute the ...