School Design Studio

Scotch Oakburn College's Middle School in Tasmania, Australia opens as excited students and teachers jump right into learning the 21st Century Way

This is a short photo summary of Scotch Oakburn College in Tasmania, Australia we at FNI started working on in 2004. I am so excited to see the fruits of our labors, and those of our local architectural colleagues on this project. The school is organized into learning communities of 150 students with associated space to help them define their identity as a small community within the larger school. Integrated project-based learning is a strong part of the school's philosophy to teaching and learning.
This first space is what we call the DaVinci Studio. DaVinci was a Renaissance Man, someone who integrated the disciplines and did not think of him self as one thing of another. In the same vein, we encourage educators to think of the Studio (fully equipped for both science and art) as a studio for integrated project-based learning. We are proponents of moving full tilt forward with wireless laptop computing across the entire campus including the outdoor spaces surrounding the building. Kids may or may not have access at home. If they do, then they take to the environment right way, if they don't, they now have access they didn't have. This allows for learning outside of the classroom and lots of communication between teacher and students outside of class time. Bean bags are a must in all classrooms and spaces in the school! They create personal space for students when they need it. Think of this happening in a US school - forget it, such stodgy administrators I want to puke! Let kids be kids once in a while. The revolution within classrooms are the Smart Boards that allow teachers and students to access the web from the classroom making every single classroom a potential distance learning lab. Using simple tools like Skype, that now eight million people are using for free when connecting computer to computer, kids can communicate with their peers in Japan, Indonesia, or even the United States (if you get the time zones to work out). Most teachers I've seen control this technology for lecturing, but that is a sad state of affairs! This tool, placed responsibly in the hands of students could unleash an amazing outpouring of exploration and self-directed learning! Outdoor space is a critical must for kids (and adults for that matter). Vitamin D from the sun, fresh air to breath, and outdoor learning opportunities make it a simple no brainer. Of all the ideas we propose, indoor-outdoor connections are one of the most favorite for teachers and students.

10 Trends in School Facility Planning

Every year, magazines in our field come out with Top 10 lists. I've written and presented a few myself. In presentations I usually use the drum roll for effect. Most lists provide more of the same straight line thinking into the future, or are trends directed towards decision makers in the field who are looking at making immediate short term decisions about facilities. Such is the case with our field's friend and leader Bill DeJong in a recent School Construction News report in this March/April 09 (p12) addition. In all fairness, its hard to get 10 juicy trends in a single page of a magazine dedicated to advertising tables, chairs and exterior brick for schools, but here are his solid short-term trends:

1. Declining Enrollments

2. Life Beyond No Child Left Behind

3. Anyplace, Anytime Learning

4. Flexible buildings

5. Global Focus

6. Modernizing Democracy

7. Green and Sustainability

8. Geographic Information Systems

9. Safety and Security

10, Replacement and Modernization.

Nothing here to write home about really, but these are the real short term trends for school administrative decision makers, things right in front of their noses.

Now for my extended thoughts:

Declining Enrollments: what is left unstated is how we transform how we think about "school facilities". Can we think beyond "the school" to thinking of a multi-generational learning center? One that is open to all? Yes we can! and some of us are. Often this flies in the face of No. 9 Safety and Security. So care needs to be taking in how the building is zoned, yet another part of the mix almost always left out of these safety discussions: how can adults that share such as facility be seen as caring adults rather than potential pedophiles? Yes we can! It just takes some clear thinking about how to create flexible, small communities within the building to support security for all, not just kids.

Anyplace, anytime learning: nothing new. DeJong states that in 15 years half of course work will be on-line, but doesn't have column space to explore implications for school planning (and design). Why do students have to be in the building all day long then? Can we imagine young people with some responsibility to get their work done in a self-directed manner, either in a more causal space within the building (another trend not discussed), or outside the building entirely? Yes we can! It means educators would have to work hard (as if they don't already) to help students of the 21st Century become self-directed learners such that when they reach high school age, they have developed sophisticated self-management skills. Easier said then done, but critically important for their success in the newly forming economy/market/multi-cultural world.

We can't understate the Sustainability angle. Again, left unstated by Bill is the ethical imperative of schools to take the lead in sustainability. They are teaching our young about the world, and it could be a rough ride not just for the planet, but also for human societies.

Global focus: clearly, the US is declining, but still out in front. Global competition is nothing new either. But, global cooperation and mutual understanding is so badly needed. Lets link up our schools directly to schools around the world more proactively like many schools have already begun to do. Lets share our experiences while learning science, math and cultural studies. Lets allow students to build relationships across the globe and make is a natural activity of schools. Distance education on steroids.

What trends have Bill and I missed? I'm sure there are several. Feel free to comment and add!

Siftables - Its a Toy, Its a Game, no, its a Tech Tool for Brain Development!

Technology is changing so radically, we can't plan for it anymore, there is no time to reflect, no time to create technology standards, and fit it into our curriculum, says our friend Stephen Heppell. He encourages teachers to let kids just use stuff and see what happens. Start little experiments. 

Well, here is a great example from MIT grad David Merrill of how the human-computer interface is radicalizing learning right before our eyes! I am totally amazed at how simple and elegant these tools are, and you will be too. David Merrill demonstrates his Shiftables- cookie-sized, computerized tiles you can stack and shuffle in your hands. These future-toys can do math, play music, talk with their friends too. Is this the next thing in hands-on learning? Imagine the power of these tools for child development. What do you think are the implications of this new form of tech?

 

Incorporating Green Technology in Schools Now a Real Trend

In an article by Michelle Davis, in Education Week, entitled GoinGreen, green technology is quickly becoming a standard part of the school curriculum and planning.

"In California, schools are downloading satellite data to predict the weather and better control how much water they use to maintain their fields and other outdoor landscaping. In Georgia, a district is selling its old computers to a recycler as long as that company agrees to refurbish and resell them cheaply in the community. And in one district in Colorado, school computers are put in “hibernation” every evening to cut down on energy consumption and costs.

Schools around the country are tapping new technology to be more environmentally friendly, sometimes saving money in the long run, and showing students how to take a leadership role in “green” initiatives. “A few years ago, when you mentioned green techniques in schools, people would say, ‘It’s too expensive; it’s not practical,’?” says Ying Wang, the program manager for the Collaborative for High Performance Schools’ new-facilities program in the 708,000-student Los Angeles Unified School District. “Now, it’s quite a movement.”

The Laws of Simplicity

John Maeda's site is "devoted to my ongoing thought processes regarding the topic of simplicity. I wrote and designed a book entitled The Laws of Simplicity to let the ideas take root." The book.

Here are John's 10 Laws:

1. Reduce: The simplest way to achieve simplicity is through thoughtful reduction
2. Organize: Organization makes a system of many appear fewer.
3. Time: Savings in time feels like simplicity.
4. Learn: Knowledge makes everything simpler.
5. Differences: Simplicity and complexity need each other.
6. Context: What lies in the periphery of simplicity is definitely not peripheral.
7. Emotion: More emotions are better than less.
8. Trust: In simplicity we trust.
9. Failure: Some things can never be made simple.
10. The One: Simplicity is about subtracting the obvious, and adding the meaningful.

Ban or Embrace New Technologies?

Kids are bringing all kinds of technology into schools these days. First it was cell phones and now iPods. Is it any surprise they will quickly find novel ways to use it to...cheat? What should we do, ban or embrace these new technologies?

School Construction News reports on the iPod Cheating phenomena that is apparently "sweeping the nation". SCN reports that Mountain View High School in Meridian, Idaho has banned the use of digital music players among students to curb cheating on exams. Students were recording answers and hiding them as song-lyric text files.

I am glad to find that a few institutions have taken a different stance with regard to the potential use of MP3 players for cheating. North Carolina 's Duke University actively promotes the use of digital music devices and began providing iPods to students several years ago in order to evaluate how the devices might facilitate or enhance learning in courses as diverse as music, sociology and engineering, officials say. Guess what? the incidence of cheating among the Duke student body has declined during the past decade, officials say.

New Designs for Personalized Learning

CNN's Lisa Porterfield reports in her article, Designs For Learning:  "In class, you likely spent most of your time sitting at your desk, listening to lectures and memorizing facts. And the only places you probably could meet with other students were at your locker or in the cafeteria.

While these types of traditional schools have served their purpose for decades, new models of teaching and learning have come on the scene. To prepare students for an evolving information-based society, architects are designing innovative schools to support these changes.

"Several major educational trends are shaping the planning and design of 21st-century schools," said Jeffery Lackney, an architect and professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

Personalized learning

Some educators say they recognize different learning styles require unique learning environments.

"Instruction and schools are now being designed around the needs of kids," said Leigh Colburn, principal of Marietta High School in Marietta, Georgia.

"We've grown up in a consumer-oriented, choice-oriented society," Colburn said. "And this millennial generation that's coming up -- they're used to choices, they're used to being able to make decisions, and we have to give them more freedom in a structured way."

In such an environment, students can set their own agendas with teachers who act as advisers. Some teachers focus on collaborative projects that link to the real world, such as building a community garden.

In response to these trends, designers are replacing traditional classrooms with "studios" that contain storage areas for long-term projects and spaces for individual, small-group and large-group work.

At the Avalon School in St. Paul, Minnesota, where the school's 120 students develop their individual educational programs, you won't find corridors or traditional classrooms. Instead, at the center of the building is a common area, surrounded by rooms that house a science lab, seminar spaces and studios with open-office student workstations.

Changing classrooms

"It's not like a factory anymore," Lackney said. "One-size-fits-all schools don't work. ... Schools are being built with a variety of spaces that meet the needs of individual learners."

There is a push to build smaller schools, with smaller class sizes. When redesigning large school buildings, architects reconfigure schools into "neighborhood groupings" and remove corridors to make more spaces for learning.

Dr. Kenneth Tanner, an architect and professor at the School Design and Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia, said natural light is shown to improve behavior and test scores. Designers also consider factors such as energy-efficient spaces that maximize the use of sunlight and have good indoor air quality.

Finding ways to integrate learning is another growing trend in school design. For example, "if a school has solar panels, they can be used as an exciting new way to teach math and science," Lackney said.

Getting away from centers of technology like the audiovisual storage closet from decades past, results in improvements right at the teacher's fingertips, such as classrooms with ceiling-mounted LCD projectors.

"Schools are completely moving away from the computer lab and infusing technology throughout the entire building," Lackney said.

As portable electronics enable students carrying handheld PDAs and wireless laptops to learn anywhere, at anytime, the question arises as to whether the school building itself could become obsolete. According to Lackney, "school planners are experimenting with the concept of virtual schools."

Using New Technologies to Teach the Same Old Garbage

John Moravec of Education Futures comments on a NY Times article that reports schools giving up on laptops because they don't see progress..."Folks, when you use new technologies to teach the same old garbage, you’re not going to get the results that you want."

The NY Times started to touch on this in their article, Seeing no progress, some schools drop laptops:

"…the Liverpool Central School District, just outside Syracuse, has decided to phase out laptops starting this fall, joining a handful of other schools around the country that adopted one-to-one computing programs and are now abandoning them as educationally empty — and worse."

"Such disappointments are the latest example of how technology is often embraced by philanthropists and political leaders as a quick fix, only to leave teachers flummoxed about how best to integrate the new gadgets into curriculums. Last month, the United States Department of Education released a study showing no difference in academic achievement between students who used educational software programs for math and reading and those who did not."

John Moravec has another read on this situation: "So, the lesson learned is that if you want to create kids that will perform well in a non-ICT-oriented society, then don’t provide them with technological tools. If you want them, however, to develop creative and innovative uses to succeed in knowledge and innovation-based societies that demand the use of ICT, then you must embrace the tools. And, when you do so, you cannot use them to teach the same old garbage (usually rote, “download”-style learning). Pedagogies that embrace ICT must leapfrog conventional paradigms and support students’ pervasive creativity, knowledge production, invention, and innovation."

Web 2.0: Power and Implications for Learning

I found this great video posted on Sparkbugg a blog about "sharing smart ideas, inventions, and innovation". This video which explores the potentials of Web 2.0 was created by Michael Wesch a Kansas State University cultural anthropology professor. For a novice like myself, these ideas, which aren't new to some, are nevertheless quite startling in their implications for communication and the future of learning.

A look into the future of education

There are many folks prognosticating about the future of education each with a different slant. I've enjoyed over the past month reading Education Futures blog. John Moravec's blog is a great source for getting a feel of the landscape of accelerated change.

A recent post by Education Futures for instance decontructs the future world from the mind of Bill Gates that never was. Just because someone - especially an influential individual - says a future will happen, doesn't mean it will...which makes futures thinking that much more fun.