Design Your School to be a Textbook for Learning In designing a new school facility or renovating an older one, the building itself can be a resource for educating students. Buildings are complex systems of structural support, geometry, color, ventilation, and technology. At the Denver School of Science and Technology, high school physics students calculate the diameter of columns and learn about how buildings stand up. This is possible because all of the systems in the buildings are in plain sight. This approach to design echoes the trend towards loft-style businesses and homes in many cities. Other examples of designing a school as a living textbook include creative design features such as a large working sundial, integrating artwork and craft into the building, or creating an outdoor “learning garden” where students can learn about the natural world’s flora and fauna. Such strategies as creating a rooftop playground or garden are both educational and can save a considerable amount of money in locations where land costs are high.
Resources Empowering Learning Through Natural, Human, and Building Ecologies http://www.designshare.com/Research/Kobet/ learning_ecology.htm Kobet, Robert J., DesignShare, 2003 This article asserts that it is critical to understand the connections between human ecology and building ecology to create humane environments that show inspiration and creativity and that also serve diverse needs. It recommends seeking ways to make visible how buildings function and how they are connected to the greater community and environment at large.
The Learning Environment as a Three-Dimensional Textbook http://www.colorado.edu/journals/cye/10_2/10_2article8.pdf Taylor, Anne, Children’s Environments, 1993 Describes how learning environments can be more educationally and optimally useful if the architecture of the built, natural, and cultural environments are used as teaching tools. Discusses how structures and the surrounding landscape can be used to teach physics, geometry, and other disciplines, enabling students to learn how to evaluate the environment.
“What the Denver School of Science and Technology does as a learning environment is it screams, “Hey, look at me, I’m an active, alive building that has engineered systems … they’re out, they’re visible, they’re in public, and it shows the kids that technology is alive right in their school environment.” JACKIE SULLIVAN, PROFESSOR, University of Colorado at Boulder and Founding Board Member of the Denver School of Science and Technology
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schools designed for learning