Redesigning your school: Insights from high school students participating in the national dialogue
Keynote: Ron Bogle, Hon AIA and President of the American Architectural Foundation
In 2007, the American Architectural Foundation, in partnership with Target, launched the largest national school design competition open to high school students in the United States. With over 5,000 registrants and nearly 250 final completed entries, the Redesign Your School Contest produced inspired and creative representations of learning spaces for the 21st century. Each student was required to submit a 1000 word essay along with their design concepts. In 2008, AAF returned to those entries in an exhaustive effort to research and identify trends and determine what students seek in the design of the places they learn and play, as well as their vision for how schools should be designed in the future. Major themes articulated by the nation’s high school students included: creating new learning opportunities by designing spaces that allow students to engage in hands-on, self-directed, and team learning; designing for variety and flexibility so that spaces can accommodate different learning styles and are lively and engaging; providing comfortable and social spaces to interact with peers and teachers and foster informal learning; integrating technology to enhance every way they learn; and promoting a connection with the outdoors for mental and physical wellbeing. This new information provides fresh insights and adds the perspective of high school students to the national discussion about school design. Ron Bogle, Hon. AIA and President/CEO of the American Architectural Foundation will discuss the results of these groundbreaking research findings in one of the first public presentations of this research. This is considered to be the first serious effort to understand school design from the student point of view in the United States.
Understanding the Broad Spectrum of
Learning Styles, Abilities, and Preferences
Keynote: Susan M. Rundle, President of Performance Concepts International (PCI)
At the heart of educational institutions and workplace settings are learning individuals who breathe life into concepts that evolve into promise for the future. When individuals succeed, everyone triumphs. As you reflect on what you learn during this workshop, which is a journey designed to help you understand learning styles through your eyes first, it is hoped that you will perceive the learner-centered classroom through a brand new set of lenses. To achieve this, you will be responding to an adult learning-style survey prior to the workshop. You will then bring with you your personalized results and we will debrief and interactively involve you in the meaning of each style and the implications both in education and workplace settings.
Before planning for learning space begins, it is important to understand how facilities―in general―and each of us―in particular―can better educate the child based on new understandings. The purpose of this session is to explore two questions in particular: How are we like and not like students and how do our learning preferences influence the design of space? To answer these questions, an understanding of the different ways in which humans learn is essential. Traditional classroom environments are more alike than not. Consequently, it is assumed that each person can learn in that kind of setting. This session will dispel that myth. Learning style pertains to the different ways humans learn new and difficult information and includes environmental elements (classroom stimuli), preferences for sound, light, temperature, and seating, a few of the many elements that affect academic achievement. Based on this, we will challenge some of the basic assumptions we have about learning.
Teaching the Digital Generation: No More Cookie-Cutter High Schools
Keynote: Frank Kelly, FAIA and Director of Educational Planning at SHW Group
For a century, we have believed that the industrial age traditional comprehensive high school could serve all students—that parity/fairness meant giving every student access to comparable instruction, course offerings and facilities. Today’s dreadful graduation rates, particularly in urban districts with diverse enrollments, belie that confidence. The presentation will outline principles for future high schools and explore ten contrasting models that integrate concepts for teaching/learning, technology, time (school day/year), facilities and costs. The objectives are to:
- Step back from long held assumptions and think basically about what high schools should be
- Show that there are many, not one way to make high schools, and
- Be clear that no single type of high school can meet the varied needs of today’s students.
Architecture for Achievement: Designing Powerful Places for Learning
Keynote:
Victoria Bergsagel, Founder and Director of Architects of Achievement
The world is changing rapidly, as are the ways we educate children. How then do we create new, radically improved concepts of school capable of helping all students achieve at high levels? How do we engage student voices, support a broad spectrum of learning styles, and capitalize on the tools and resources of this digital age?
This session will bring interdisciplinary groups together to develop expertise and skills around effective school design. Victoria will conclude our conference by helping us relate, synthesize and transform the vast quantity of information gathered at the conference into take-aways you can use in developing innovative strategies for the next generation of learners.
What the Federal Stimulus Means for Schools
Chris Lloyd
As Congress considers the American Recovery and Reinvestment Bill of 2009 we, too, should be considering the possible implications for schools in the Commonwealth. As proposed, the federal stimulus package contains $14 billion for the School Modernization, Renovation, and Repair Program to help create school facilities that are safe, healthy, high-performing, and up-to-date technologically. Special emphasis is being placed on environmentally-sensitive and energy efficient designs. What does this mean for you? This seminar will provide updates on what actually passed Congress, how it will be implemented by the states, and how to use new procurement tools to get projects delivered quickly.
Net-Zero Energy Learning Environments
Rob Winstead and Mark Siebert
With an uncertain economic forecast looming large, school systems are looking for creative ways to reduce expenditures. Costs to operate facilities are second only to personnel costs but have comparatively little impact on teaching and learning, so wholesale reductions in utility consumption could significantly impact the bottom line without affecting outcomes. But how? This seminar will present a variety of net-zero energy projects and review the current technologies and design strategies making net-zero energy schools like Richardsville Elementary School in Kentucky a reality for districts across the country.
Learning Landscapes
Carol Heiser, LuGay Lanier, and Steve Hostetler
For millennia, humans have had a close connection with the outdoors, and we are "hard-wired" to respond positively to natural environments and green spaces. Today, however, an indoor culture prevails, as documented in Richard Louv's book, Last Child in the Woods: Saving Our Children from Nature-Deficit Disorder. It seems that our children in particular are suffering a myriad of ills, ranging from ADHD to obesity, in part because they do not experience a connection with nature on a daily basis. Since children spend a majority of their formative years at school, our school landscapes can have a profound influence on how students perceive and engage with the natural world. This session will review examples of how we, as school facility planners, can integrate landscape design and outdoor spaces into our projects to maximize opportunities for students and teachers to engage with the outdoor environment.
The Big Bang of School Architecture in Virginia
Vijay Ramnarain, Scott Worner, Jack Moye, and Hunter Barnes
Physics teaches us that it may be possible to know where we are going by studying from whence we came. This seminar will provide a historical overview of the the evolution of schools and their educational programs in the Commonwealth. By looking into our past, identifying common themes and discussing their implications for today it may be possible to discover what lies ahead tomorrow.
Lessons Learned from Award-Winning Schools
Tom DeBolt and Ken Thacker | Mark Burke and Billy Riggs
Educators and architects will share the good, the bad, and
even the ugly from the planning, design and
construction phases of the
award-winning schools Manassas Park Middle School & T.C. Williams High School.