"Big breakthroughs happen when what is suddenly possible meets what is desperately necessary."
Also worth watching...
Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education
What are your thoughts on or experiences with online education?
Friday, August 10, 2012
Come the Revolution: Online Education
Also worth watching...
Daphne Koller: What we're learning from online education
What are your thoughts on or experiences with online education?
Thursday, June 28, 2012
Monday, June 25, 2012
The Mind Trust's Charter School Incubator Awards
Congratulations to Indianapolis-based
Christel House Academy and Boston-based
Phalen Leadership Academies for being the first recipients of The Mind Trust's Charter School Incubator awards! Well done teams!
Read more here and here.
Read more here and here.
Sunday, June 3, 2012
Phyiscal Manifestation of Learning Environments
I gave the following presentation titled Physical Manifestation of Learning Environments, at the Boston Architectural College on Saturday, June 2, 2012. Please let me know if you have any comments and/or questions.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Tuesday, April 3, 2012
Community-Oriented Learning Environments
Great article, spot on regarding community-oriented learning environments!
"Only with a community-oriented approach can a school truly empower students to take ownership of their own education and community, and perhaps, break free from the cycle of poverty."
A must read for everyone. I feel as though I hear my own voice as I read through this article.
Thursday, June 2, 2011
The Visit: Flying Classrooms - Part I
I recently visited an exhibit at the Architekturzentrum Wien titled "Fliegende Klassenzimmer. Wir machen Schule." Translated to English, the exhibit is "Flying Classrooms. We are creating schools."
Reinventing the classroom does not have to be expensive nor time-consuming. It may include rearranging the furniture or creating a special space within the classroom.
Micro Scale
In the center of the exhibition there is a red cloth, simply strung to the ceiling with various holes in the top to allow for the passage of light. Inside there are pillows on the floor where students are able to read a book or a small group discussion can form. The space shuts off the visual distractions of the classroom, increasing concentration. The structural fabric forms to the shape of each person, creating an individual, comfortable experience.
The exhibit does not discount the opinions or ideas of the student. While it appears obvious that we should ask those individuals learning in the space, often architects designing schools hear from the school administrators, the teachers and the parents, with the students' voices neglected.
A comment form a 16 year old high school student stood out amongst the others, "...just some comfortable chairs that are good for listening. I don't think that we'll all fall asleep just because we're sitting in comfortable chairs. There is one comfortable chair: the teacher's. And what about us? We have to sit on our hard little wooden chairs. If each of us could bring a chair from home, or if a number of different chairs were available, we would each pick our own. Then everything would be much more personal. And when I come to school in the morning, my chair would be right where I left it, and what a pleasure it would be sit in it. It would be great - and quite an imporvement to the overall mood!"
A simple change to the classroom furniture, such as individualizing chairs, will make learning more comfortable for students. I wish my office would allow individual chair selection!
Additionally, students were asked to devise areas - create a space - where they would like to learn.
What are some classroom ideas that you have or you have seen implemented?
Macro Scale
In a future post, I will discuss case studies of schools that have stepped outside of the traditional school building - including one that has abolished the classroom.
'Flying Classrooms' engages with the mutual interrelationship between the architectural space and teaching and learning. Manipulated furniture, space in an extendable fabric tube and full-scale models invite the visitor to experience with new spatial solutions. Historical examples and innovative school buildings from 1950 to 1980 from the Architekturzentrum Wien archives add depth to a research-based approach.The exhibit is for everbody with an interest in education and the basic spatial requirements involved. It is a place of dialogue between school children, teachers and parents, as well as with architects and politicans.
-exhibition brochureThe exhibit is a starting point for spatial ideas - from the micro (furniture, a single classroom) to the macro (the school building) - it questions how we traditionally design schools and whether there are more comfortable approaches to space that will aid in children learning.
Reinventing the classroom does not have to be expensive nor time-consuming. It may include rearranging the furniture or creating a special space within the classroom.
Micro Scale
In the center of the exhibition there is a red cloth, simply strung to the ceiling with various holes in the top to allow for the passage of light. Inside there are pillows on the floor where students are able to read a book or a small group discussion can form. The space shuts off the visual distractions of the classroom, increasing concentration. The structural fabric forms to the shape of each person, creating an individual, comfortable experience.
The exhibit does not discount the opinions or ideas of the student. While it appears obvious that we should ask those individuals learning in the space, often architects designing schools hear from the school administrators, the teachers and the parents, with the students' voices neglected.
A comment form a 16 year old high school student stood out amongst the others, "...just some comfortable chairs that are good for listening. I don't think that we'll all fall asleep just because we're sitting in comfortable chairs. There is one comfortable chair: the teacher's. And what about us? We have to sit on our hard little wooden chairs. If each of us could bring a chair from home, or if a number of different chairs were available, we would each pick our own. Then everything would be much more personal. And when I come to school in the morning, my chair would be right where I left it, and what a pleasure it would be sit in it. It would be great - and quite an imporvement to the overall mood!"
A simple change to the classroom furniture, such as individualizing chairs, will make learning more comfortable for students. I wish my office would allow individual chair selection!
Additionally, students were asked to devise areas - create a space - where they would like to learn.
What are some classroom ideas that you have or you have seen implemented?
Macro Scale
In a future post, I will discuss case studies of schools that have stepped outside of the traditional school building - including one that has abolished the classroom.
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