Design for Learning projectCarolina Katz, architect, Master in Urban Planning, ENPC - Paris

Carolina Melo, teacher, M.A. in Education Psychology, University of Arizona

cmelo@uandes.cl – ckatz@uc.cl

 Betsy Ross Elementary in Houston

Community recovery in Chile

Design for learning project

• How school can help in solving community and social problems

• School as community self assurance (daily and in disaster situations)

current situation

Schools as closed boxes in the neighborhood with no spacial, neither social, interaction with the community.

Classrooms as boxes that contains teaching activities not as spaces that enable learning.

Design for learning project:

New spaces designed to improve learning and social involvement

The project works in two different scales:

1.The school exterior and interior design in order to be a “tool” for learning

2.The school in the neighborhood in order to have an important function in improving social behavior and the sense of community, specially in vulnerable neighborhoods or villages.

Proposal from Design for Learning Project for neighborhoods or villages :

The school and the community

Schools as community centers

Community infrastructure as school facilities

Learning win win procedure

The school in the neighborhood challenge

win-win procedure

Some interesting gains:

1.Parents and community involvement in education, improves learning for both, students and parents, specially in vulnerable communities.

2.Schools capacity in attracting synergies may trigger citizens to act as a community. Schools as citizens’ attractor may solve some community problems

Vibrant schools with interesting and dynamic activities for the community to enable social involvement

The school in the neighborhood challenge

win-win procedure

3.Local signature (or identity)...”schools signature can be a compelling icon that defines a whole community”... Look for something about school and community that makes them special and unique enables community self-confidence

3. The school interacting with the community and the local authorities may be

an excellent opportunity to improve education QUALITY!!! (school and local authorities working together)

The school in the neighborhood challenge

win-win procedure

Main Goals and challenges:

How to share spaces – flexibility, adaptability, sureness– a way to improve and multiply school and community facilities

Spaces that provide “enabling form, resilient form, impelling form” - Randolph Hester, Landscape Architect

Manage shared funds – for construction, maintenance, activities - Negotiation challenges between local and schools authorities

Be able to improve and share knowledge from teachers to the community and vice versa (sea-weed production)

Some suggestions for the procedure

Observe users requirements and cultural behaviors

Have the authorities and the community in the plan side

Attract funds and search for strategic support groups

Formulate an initial strategy and a simple implementation plan

Supervise and measure the implementation plan

Be open to change some strategies in order to respond to different actors necessities and unseen or unexpected scenarios

Final Goals

Contribute to assure and strengthen the community

Learn from the problems and success of the case studied

Test a model for further cases (keep replicability in mind)