FACILITIES
21ST CENTURY LEARNING SPACES
The physical learning environment matters!
At 21st Century Schools we have spent more than 25 years teaching about the relationship between the Physical Environment and student achievement. We began with describing how teachers could convert their traditional "box" classrooms with rows of students desk, etc., into a transformed environment that supported what we knew were best practices in curriculum and instruction.
As lifelong learners we continually searched for information and ideas on designing the 21st century learning environment. This eventually led us to the design of "green" or "living" buildings, sustainable design, "green schoolyards". Then, eureka! an entire facility designed for the purpose of supporting 21st century learning! It was the most beautiful, incredible and authentic design of the learning environment we had ever seen. We were thrilled to discover Fielding Nair International, and have even teamed up with them to help schools create "the whole package" - curriculum and facilities - into a total 21st century school.
Please feast your eyes and creative minds upon the excellent document below which provides an exciting, inspiring and informative introduction to an authentic, 21st century learning environment. It is a paradigm shift, but a wonderful one! Also, we would like recommend Prakash Nair's newest book, Blueprint for Tomorrow - Redesigning Schools for Student-Centered Learning which was released in October of 2014 by Harvard Educational Press. It is a must read for every educator, parent, business leader and community member.
Warning: Almost all school architects claim to design "21st century schools". If their designs include the factory model "cells and bells", i.e., long hallways with rows of classrooms and lockers down each side, and a recommended daily schedule with students changing class once every 50 minutes - they are not 21st century.
There is a widespread misconception that new buildings with lots of impressive technologies, even beautiful commons areas and lots of natural lighting mean "21st century". Those are some of the components, but if the paradigm of learning and teaching, curriculum and instruction, is still regimented and fragmented you do not have a 21st century school. Do not be deceived by the "21st century" trappings, which in reality amount to nothing more than a school designer's version of "the Emperor's New Clothes".
Do not throw your precious funding into nothing more than a new building that is, in actuality, a continuation of the factory model paradigm. New buildings and computers do NOT a 21st century school make!
Finally, if you are building a new school and you have included commons areas outside the classrooms, be sure that you provide sufficient, appropriate professional development for your teachers. They will not automatically know how to best use the commons areas. We have seen too many time the results when teachers did not receive this PD; they simply imported their known, comfortable, traditional practices into the beautiful new facility. Nothing changed. 21st Century Teaching and Learning did not take place!
Teachers need help making that paradigm shift, and then they need lots of instructional coaching, including many new strategies and tools!
Contact us today for Professional Development - and please call us before you hire an architect! Otherwise, you will very likely get the obsolete "cells and bells" in a pretty, shiny new building!
If you already have an architect and a start on the floor plans, we can evaluate them for you and make specific suggestions on how it can be modified to better support 21st century modes of learning! Request an evaluation today!
A new 21st century school is a holistic and integrated project - integrating the building design, the schoolyard, the curriculum/instruction, the daily and annual schedule and the professional development of all staff.
At 21st Century Schools we have spent more than 25 years teaching about the relationship between the Physical Environment and student achievement. We began with describing how teachers could convert their traditional "box" classrooms with rows of students desk, etc., into a transformed environment that supported what we knew were best practices in curriculum and instruction.
As lifelong learners we continually searched for information and ideas on designing the 21st century learning environment. This eventually led us to the design of "green" or "living" buildings, sustainable design, "green schoolyards". Then, eureka! an entire facility designed for the purpose of supporting 21st century learning! It was the most beautiful, incredible and authentic design of the learning environment we had ever seen. We were thrilled to discover Fielding Nair International, and have even teamed up with them to help schools create "the whole package" - curriculum and facilities - into a total 21st century school.
Please feast your eyes and creative minds upon the excellent document below which provides an exciting, inspiring and informative introduction to an authentic, 21st century learning environment. It is a paradigm shift, but a wonderful one! Also, we would like recommend Prakash Nair's newest book, Blueprint for Tomorrow - Redesigning Schools for Student-Centered Learning which was released in October of 2014 by Harvard Educational Press. It is a must read for every educator, parent, business leader and community member.
Warning: Almost all school architects claim to design "21st century schools". If their designs include the factory model "cells and bells", i.e., long hallways with rows of classrooms and lockers down each side, and a recommended daily schedule with students changing class once every 50 minutes - they are not 21st century.
There is a widespread misconception that new buildings with lots of impressive technologies, even beautiful commons areas and lots of natural lighting mean "21st century". Those are some of the components, but if the paradigm of learning and teaching, curriculum and instruction, is still regimented and fragmented you do not have a 21st century school. Do not be deceived by the "21st century" trappings, which in reality amount to nothing more than a school designer's version of "the Emperor's New Clothes".
Do not throw your precious funding into nothing more than a new building that is, in actuality, a continuation of the factory model paradigm. New buildings and computers do NOT a 21st century school make!
Finally, if you are building a new school and you have included commons areas outside the classrooms, be sure that you provide sufficient, appropriate professional development for your teachers. They will not automatically know how to best use the commons areas. We have seen too many time the results when teachers did not receive this PD; they simply imported their known, comfortable, traditional practices into the beautiful new facility. Nothing changed. 21st Century Teaching and Learning did not take place!
Teachers need help making that paradigm shift, and then they need lots of instructional coaching, including many new strategies and tools!
Contact us today for Professional Development - and please call us before you hire an architect! Otherwise, you will very likely get the obsolete "cells and bells" in a pretty, shiny new building!
If you already have an architect and a start on the floor plans, we can evaluate them for you and make specific suggestions on how it can be modified to better support 21st century modes of learning! Request an evaluation today!
A new 21st century school is a holistic and integrated project - integrating the building design, the schoolyard, the curriculum/instruction, the daily and annual schedule and the professional development of all staff.