Voice of the Student Preset at Ion

8/7/2019 Voice of the Student Preset at Ion

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Eight Recommendations for School Design Excellence in the 21 st CenturyDeveloped at the AAF National Summit on School Design, 2005

1. Design Schools to Support a Variety of Learning Styles

2. Enhance Learning by Integrating Technology3. Foster a Small School Culture4. Support Neighborhood Schools5. Create Schools as Centers of Community6. Engage the Public in the Planning Process7. Make Healthy, Comfortable, & Flexible Learning Spaces8. Consider Non-Traditional Options for School Facilities

For more on the National Summit on School Design, visitwww.archfoundation.org

American Architectural Foundation | Voice of the Student on School Design


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The Voice of the Student on School Design project was undertaken in 2008to identify how students believe the design of their schools affects theirability to learn, create, and succeed. Based on the comprehensive analysisof over 250 entries from the 2007 Redesign Your School contest, the projectprovides the most significant U.S. data to date on student attitudes aboutschool design, from unwelcoming hallways and unforgiving library chairs toideal learning environments that inspire and engage. The AmericanArchitectural Foundation (AAF) believes these findings can be a tool formeaningful change for educators, policy leaders and architects across thecountry, as they strive to build better schools.



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This overriding question guided the analysis; the answer came from thestudents.



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A high-school student in Santa Barbara, Calif., conveys the essence of what aschool should bea complex environment that inspires.

Quotes included in this presentation were selected because they wererepresentative of common ideas shared by many of the participatingstudents.



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The Voice of the Student on School Design project began with a designcontest called Redesign Your School: A Contest of Scholarly Proportionsconducted by AAF in partnership with Target. The goal was to engage 9 th

through 12 th grade students to envision an ideal schoolin 1,000 words anda variety of visuals modes: drawings, models, computer-generated graphics,etc. Thousands of students expressed interest.

Completed entries from over 250 teens in 40 states provided layers of attitudes and aspirations. This summary of the analysis offers freshperspective on the crucial relationship students have with schools. Despitethe lure of the virtual world, students still envision school as a key place tolearn, but they envision that learning space very differently from theircurrent experience of school.



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What is an ideal school according to students? Unfettered by budgets orzoning considerations, students sketched fantastic structures.Fundamentally, they envisioned buildings that were spacious, warm,inviting, human scale, village-like, and colorful, with plenty of fresh air andsunlight. They also identified the need for places to talk to collegecounselors, to convene with friends, and to read, study, or maybe hang outalone.



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Students drew environmentally attuned, energy-efficient buildings, withnatural light, ventilation, solar or geothermal power and built withsustainable bamboo and other natural materials. Students emphasizedrecycling and organic food. They also wondered why schools werentdesigned as teaching toolsfor instance, why couldnt a hallway be shapedlike a strand of DNA?



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Students mentioned stress and anxiety, overcrowding, uncomfortableseating, prison-like classrooms and buildings, as well as chaotic hallways.Their essays made clear that studying 21st-century lessons is a daily strugglein classrooms conceived for the 1900s. Their imagery attempted to resolvethose issues through complex visualizations.

This students vision of a library in a tree seems to say that learning needs tobe serious, but the process and place doesnt have to be. This is a distinctionbetween curriculum, process and place noted by many of the studentsadistinction that is often overlooked by others.



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This students vision of school is connected to the outdoors. Research hass own t at uman stress eve s a wit in minutes o seeing green spaces,and that patients in hospitals respond positively to images of lush greenery.Without necessarily knowing this research, students intuited it. Theyincluded access to the outdoors, increased permeability of the environmentto school surroundings, and indoor gardens in their images of ideal schools.



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This student describes bringing the outdoors inside to activate space andcreate new, non-traditional learning places. Further, she creatively envisionsa way to spark the desire to learn, a core purpose of schools, in herdescription of an ideal school design.



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In their designs and essays, students made clear that schools must integratethe technologylaptops, cell phones and music playersthat is already intheir backpacks. The student essays and images clearly integrate today'stechnology and envisioned tomorrows breakthroughs.

As seen above, one student created future school library technology, whileanother envisioned harnessing the energy of students in the hallways togenerate electricity to power the lights.



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To determine which themes and concerns might inform the national debateon school design excellence, the American Architectural Foundation invitedan interdisciplinary team to analyze the students contest entries.



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The team considered qualitative and quantitative aspects of the studentsdesign concepts.



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Students had been asked at the outset to consider eight principles for schooldesign excellence developed at the 2005 National Summit on School Design.



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Student aspirations and Summit principles meshed in some areas. There wasmore than 75 percent support for healthy, comfortable and flexiblelearning spaces, a key tenet of the Summit. However, the student groupassigned less importance to size (just 52 of 250 favored fostering a smallschool culture) and proximity to home (only 40 of 250 saw a particularneed for neighborhood high schools) than to updated technology andadaptable space.



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Analysts dug deeper into the essays to elicit more subtle themes. More than60 percent of the students mentioned the importance of outdoor access.Nearly half the students mentioned feelings and emotions. Forty percent of the students mentioned structure and organization of school programs andcurriculum. Security and safety emerged as an issue for 55 of the 250students, while 39 were especially concerned about food and fitness.



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This student recognizes the connection between the built environment andher experience of it.



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In their choice of wordssuch as project-based, campus, and realworldthe students signaled readiness for varied teaching models as wellas a desire for educational links to the community. They saw collaborativestudies as a path to leadership and responsibilities. They understood thatboxed-in classrooms and rows of desks did not put them on that path.Students incorporated corridors, areas under stairs and around lockers intheir concepts of alternative learning spaces.



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Students envisioned teachers as facilitators rather than lecturers. In therole of facilitator teachers support new learning opportunities in the eyes of the student. Then, like the students, these facilitators would benefit frommore flexible space.



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Without necessarily realizing it, this student envisions a possible avenue forschool reform and the acquisition of 21 st century skills.



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Students drew clear pictures with their wordsone on one, interact,studio, and small group. They envisioned the need for dormitories forchildren with problems at home; daycare for students with children, and acaf for anyone who missed breakfast. One student suggested covering thewalls with canvas to encourage budding Van Goghs.



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The desire for flexibility can be read as a vote for changing the scenery tosuit the educational assignment or to fit the changing needs of young adults.The educational implication is compelling: students want variety built intospace and schedule.



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This quote illustrates students awareness that education already happensoutside the classroom but could be more effective if given as muchattention as classroom design.



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Students used a fluid vocabulary to describe the variety of social interactionsthat occur in the course of a school day. The importance of peer-to-peercommunication and small group study emerged clearly, along with theirdesire to hang out with fellow students. This aligns with developmentaltheory that explains how social interaction is necessary for the maturationof young adults. Thoughtful space planning could accommodate this form of social learning.



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The concepts behind the words imply a need for welcoming social spaces inwhich to engage other students, or even teachers, in a meaningful way.Students wished schools were more comfortable.



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A recurring theme in the contest entries was that school requires studentsto turn off their personal technology and use outdated and ofteninadequate school technological resources. This causes a disconnection withthe real world, especially as better technology might exist in their ownbackpacks.



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The use of technology by this generation is a dominant theme. For good orbad, their world is open content, open source. With file sharing, blogs, wikis,tagging, social bookmarking, podcasts, video logs, and peer-productionsstudents can speak their minds on almost any topic, at any time of day,without filters. Students made clear that technology is already integrated intheir lives and they want it fully integrated in school to enhance theirlearning.



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The students understanding of technology extends beyond personalgadgets to high-performance building systems and geothermal heat sources.The students recognized the potential of technology to enhance the lessonsthey are learning; for instance, virtual reality headsets to experience history,or video conferences to speak with native speakers in language classes.



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As the quote indicates, students are constructing their own pathways toinformation rather than simply receiving information from the teacher. Atthe same time, they value the teacher as one who helps construct aframework for learning that will last a lifetime.



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Across the board, students from urban, rural and suburban schoolsexpressed a need for greater connection to the outdoors.



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Students valued the outdoors for varied reasons. For them, a school gardencould promote healthy eating; skylights could reduce stress; fresh air coulddecrease illnesses; time outside could promote a love of nature; and usingoutdoor spaces could reduce energy costs.



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Students continue to react against the old models of school design. Theyfeel that the very structure of schools need to be rethought and updated toreflect 21 st century expectations they have for themselves.



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The Voice of the Student offers a unique opportunity to understand criticalissues about the learning environment, as perceived by the most under-represented voice in school designthe students. AAF anticipates theproject findings will inform educators, policy makers, and architects whomake decisions that affect these young clients each school day. It is time tolisten to the voices of students.



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The American Architectural Foundation (AAF) is a national nonprofit organization

architecture to transform lives and improve the places where we live, learn, work,and play. Through numerous outreach programs, grants, and education resources,the AAF inspires to become more thoughtful and engaged stewards of the builtenvironment. AAFs Great Schools by Design initiative aims to improve the qualityof Americas schools by promoting good design, encouraging collaboration in thedesign process, and providing leading-edge resources that empower schools andcommunities to transform themselves. At AAF, we seek to make individuals andcommunities aware of their vital role in shaping the world around them. For moreinformation, please visit us online at www.archfoundation.org.

Great design is the essence of the Target brand. Target partners with world-classdesigners to offer amazing products at affordable prices. Since day one, Targetcompany founders recognized that the appeal of smart, stylish, well-designedproducts and stores would set Target apart. Today, Target operates more than1,613 stores in 47 states nationwide. Committed to local communities, Target givesback near $3 million a week through grants and special programs in the fields of education, the arts, disaster preparedness and relief. With AAF, Target is apresenting sponsor of Great Schools by Design and Redesign Your School: ACompetition of Scholarly Proportions . For more information about Target, visit

www.target.com.On behalf of AAF, OWP/P conducted a comprehensive analysis of the RedesignYour School contest entries and presented initial findings to a national audience onNovember 13, 2008, on which this pdf is based. With offices in Chicago andPhoenix, OWP/P provides integrated architecture, interior design, engineering andconsulting services to clients worldwide. OWP/P collaborates with public andprivate clients in civic, corporate, education, finance, health care, hospitality, law,and retail industries to design healthy, energy-efficient solutions that work fromthe inside out. For more information about OWP/P, visit www.owpp.com.

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Voice of the Student Preset at Ion