School Design Studio

Learning Improves with Exercise

HealthDay News reports that research by Dr. Catherine Davis, a clinical health psychologist at the Medical College of Georgia, in Augusta, indicates that three months of daily, vigorous exercise can improve. In fact, physical activity can also lower their diabetes risk, reduce their body fat, and strengthen their bones, says a team that looked at about 200 overweight, inactive children, ages 7 to 11.

"Aerobic exercise training showed dose-response benefits on executive function (decision-making) and possibly math achievement, in overweight children," the researchers wrote in an abstract presented this week at The Obesity Society's annual scientific meeting in New Orleans. "Regular exercise may be a simple, important method of enhancing children's cognitive and academic development. These results may persuade educators to implement vigorous physical activity curricula during a childhood obesity epidemic," the researchers concluded.

"We hope these findings will help persuade policymakers, schools and communities that time spent being physically active enhances, rather than detracts from learning," Davis said.

These results encourage us to rethink policies that keep kids in chairs all day long!

The Impact of Reduced Class Sizes on the Health of Children

We already know that reduced class size can contribute to achievement gains, especially in disadvantaged groups such as African Americans. Now we find that reduced class size is correlated with better health as well.

Science Daily reports on a new study published in the November issue of the American Journal of Public Health by researchers at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health and the Virginia Commonwealth University, reducing the number of students per classroom in primary schools may be more cost-effective than most public health and medical interventions.

"The researchers estimated the health and economic effects of reducing class sizes from 22--25 students to 13--17 students in kindergarten through grade 3 nationwide, based on an intervention tested in Project STAR (Student Teacher Achievement Ratio), a large multi-school randomized trial that began in 1985."

"The study shows that a student graduating from high school after attending smaller-sized classes gains an average of 1.7 quality-adjusted life-years and generates a net 8,431 in lifetime revenue. "Higher earnings and better job quality enhance access to health insurance coverage, reduce exposure to hazardous work conditions, and provide individuals and families with the necessary resources to move out of unfavorable neighborhoods and to purchase goods and services," says Peter A. Muennig, MD, MPH, assistant professor of Health Policy and Management at the Mailman School. "Regardless of class size, the net effect of graduating from high school is roughly equivalent to taking 20 years of bad health off of your life."

Now if we could only open up the black box and figure out why, although we might take some educated guesses? An increased sense of connectedness, increased emotional support, caring adults, more one-on-one teacher to student support...what do you think?

Goodbye, textbooks; hello, open-source learning

What if Napster stocked textbooks? Engineering professor Richard Baraniuk talks about his vision for Connexions, an open-source system that lets teachers share digital texts and course materials, modify them and give them to their students -- all free, thanks to Creative Commons licensing. Rice University professor Richard Baraniuk has a giant vision: to create a free global online education system that puts the power of creation and collaboration in the hands of teachers worldwide. He's realizing that vision with Connexions, a website that allows teachers to quickly "create, rip, mix and burn" coursework -- without fear of copyright violations. Think of it as Napster for education. Connexions' open-source system cuts out the textbook, allowing teachers to share course materials, modify existing work and disseminate it to their students -- all for free, thanks to Creative Commons licensing. Baraniuk envisions Connexions as a repository where the most up-to-date material can be shared and reviewed (it's far more efficient than waiting for a textbook to be printed); it could become a powerful force in leveling the education playing field. Currently encompassing hundreds of online courses and used by a million people worldwide, Baraniuk's virtual educational system is revolutionizing the way people teach and learn.

Learning Spaces for the Creative Age

In this workshop session, Randy Fielding continues about the Creative Age with the stakeholders in the Regina, Saskatchewan School District. He discusses spatial representations of the four primordial learning modalities of Campfire, Cave, Watering Hole and Life first articulated by Dr. Thornburg. Here he works interactively with the participants to determine what the best learning spaces will be for the new school designs in Regina.

Starting Planning with Students

Recently, Randy Fielding, Jeff Lackney and John Sole from Fielding Nair International to the city of Regina in Saskatchewan, in what is considered to be by some as one of the worst crime ridden neighborhoods in Canada: North Central. The FNI team met with students, educators and other interested community stakeholders to begin the process of making Regina learning centres more effective places to educate students. The project, Scott Collegiate, will become part of what is being described as the North Central Shared Facility. This video depicts a site visit to Scott Collegiate High School and a meeting with the great students there.

Children's Participation

Henk van Beers has created a new blog dedicated to children's participation. As Henk describes his blog, "It will be a no frills blog with basic information and references only that will be updated regularly. I will continue with the approach I have used thus far, i.e. briefly explain why the link or information may be useful. New posts will always describe what the reference is about and why it may be of interest. The blog is a work in progress and I will continue trying to make it more user friendly." What blog ISN'T a work in progress! Great work Henk!