The same day the American Society of Civil Engineers presented how spending for schools had fallen by $9 billion in their 2009 Report Card on the East Side, across town, AIA Center for Architecture offered a 2-day workshop to focus on “a vision for what school places should be, “Designing Learning Environments to Rebuild Urban America”. If we want to improve education, and who doesn't, we definitely don't want to just repair those existing schools. Lifelong careers have been devoted to doing something very different. In fact, if one includes directions from Montessori and Jacobs, American educators and planners have been trying to change the traditional school for generations.
"We need places to support new brain research that tells us we are all wired to learn yet still have schools based on the industrial revolution from the last century.”
Beverly Falk, Early Childhood Educator
The conference opened with a panel of, educators, architects and designers to first offer their wish lists of characteristics in designing learning spaces.
“Learning spaces need to be student-centered allowing the teacher to re-engage with students”
Rich Steinberg, Ed. Researcher Introductory College Physics Instructor
As a CUNY Physics Instructor who also taught High School, Mr. Steinberg offered his perspective of today's urban student with regard to all-important education in the sciences.“Students are coming to college deficient in math, science and reasoning with flawed approaches to learning physics. Students are not coming to college with skills in deductive reasoning.” Instead they seem to ask, what do you want me to learn and I'll give it back to you. We have students now knowing what to do, not how to do it. The traditional classroom does not support student-centered laboratory and interaction. Even when the space is supportive, schooling is determined by the drive to learn for the Regents. This is negatively affecting their reasoning ability. Sometimes only someone from the same culture can break through. Diversity is key to connecting.
More Flexible, Level-Free, More Effective
In answer to the question “How do people learn?” there was a consensus in the room that learning spaces needed to promote more experiential learning. The way we are teaching languages, there is not enough time to learn them. Instead it was proposed, spaces need to be devoted to technology to support interaction with learning tools. Also, students need to be able confer with teachers and participate in more workplace internships.
“What we have is a square box like the 16th century classroom with, at most, an interactive white board as the only nod to the present. Instead learning spaces should facilitate creativity instead of the current 'retention=learning' focus today. A space more like that in the painting, the School of Athens with no desks would be more supportive of learning.”
Richard Sher, School Planner
Building on the comments on diversity, Claire Sylvan, Ed. D. Executive Director, International Networks, described the treatment of non-English speakers and immigrants in some schools. Specifically how immigrants continue to be relegated to basements of learning facilities when they should be integrated for collaboration.
She went on to describe a concept of “with-it-ness” in children that can be seen in those students that can take in more data. She described how a disconnect from the learning environment affects “with-it-ness” with a scale progressing from remember, understanding, applications, analysis, evaluation and creativity
Teachers, however, have different perspectives and depending on their years of experience and number of students they teach they will differ on this issue. . Smaller group sizes allow for more innovation in space use. With larger groups, “classroom management” is more of a faculty concern. Audience architects and planners described consulting with teachers that resisted any change in the traditional classroom. One creative solution to classroom management is having teachers move from class to class and students stay in the same room throughout the day. Reports are that with more 'ownership” of the space, students take better care of it and behave better as hosts.
Collaboration and Mixed-Use Complexes
Mixed-Use plans for more diversity are being implemented in California. One project combines a school with a senior center providing inter-generational collaboration. Programming at the dual location includes young students teaching seniors about other technology and seniors sharing oral histories.“Instead of exclusive focus on individual achievement, learning spaces should support engagement, be flexible and promote group discovery. Creating a sense of wonder in an individual with a purpose with the intention of ultimately creating an engaged citizen who can thoughtfully vote his or her conscious" Jeffrey M. Vincent, PhD Dept Dir Center for Cities & Schools, Institute of Urban & Regional Development
Though work is highly collaborative, schools are separated from the world of work's information, collaboration and partnering. CEO's of companies comment upon how learning as a socially active process, promoting engagement, is essential.
Engage language and content
Most of the discussion focused on small group interaction and the need for design to support that. Serene Losonczy with Platt Byard Dovell White in New York cautioned that it was also important for the design to support students being alone for processing material. “.... a place where they can never be by themselves is not helpful either.” The consensus was that 1000 square feet with pods where faculty can conduct 1-on-1's is minimal.
Following the panel's comments, each member led a planning group: Childhood, K-6, Middle School and High School. The High School group had the benefit of input from visiting New York public school students.
Breakout Brainstorm
It was my pleasure to participate with the group focused on K-6 that Richard Sher facilitated which began by recalling and building on the panelists recommendations resulting in a very long list. To prioritize it, each team member picked their first choice which were: Not square, Choice, Flexible, Indoor/Outdoor and Flow. With these priorities identified, the team quickly drew a Venn Diagram through which they marked the 8 key traits proposed.
When the teams finished, Kathryn C. Hovis, Symmes Maini & McKee Associates, presented results to the whole group. In sum, characteristics proposed for each level to promote rather than “fight against” project-based learning were as follows:
Early childhood:
- Natural light, eye-view of outside
- Basic necessities close by: water, bathrooms, mobile furniture
- Self contained room, shape unimportant
- Textures, colors and materials would be driven by the residential feel of area
Middle school:
- team instruction
- interdisciplinary learning
- adult interaction for co-teaching
High School:
- Along with NYC public school students the preferred space would be:
- More of a workplace with private and personal space
- Kids staying in the room and teachers rotating with the subjects
Imaginative work of students from elementary through university levels are currently on view in the exhibition galleries. So if you can go in person you'll see the proposed solutions to a variety of urban challenges from park recreation to Beijing's population growth. To learn more about this and other conferences presented at the Center for Architecture, visit their website: http://www.AIAny.com or contact Peter Lippman plippman@dcj.com.
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