We would like to know about your school experiences. What are good or bad experiences that you can link to the environment you where in?
For instance. At Edison High School, I always hated going to my classes that were in portable classrooms. The air was damp, the floor flexible squeaky, air conditioner loud, and windows small.
A good experience was in the shop. It was a big volume, and it was a place for creating and experimenting.
Please share your experiences.
I always liked Drafting class cause it was cool, clean and I could use my imagination. Sitting at the drafting table was also more comfortable than those one piece desks in classes like English, which I disliked.
I always wished they would design better desks. I had long legs and my knees always rubbed against the table top. I also always wanted to scoot my chair closer to the desk, but couldn’t because it was fixed.
Sabrina, I couldn’t agree more. I had the added problem of being left handed. The desk surface was toward the right. I always had trouble with that.
It wasn’t until I went to UC Berkeley that I found out that they actually made left handed desks.
For math class, I loved the individual seating and large projected visuals in front of me. The learning environment was very concrete just like the content of the materials. For Art, Ceramics, and Photography, I loved the big tables that we shared and the wide open spaces we used around the room to access materials and see what others were working on and even chat about it. The fluidity of these kind of spaces encouraged creativity because it was easy to find what you needed, gather some inspiration & help from others and create something new. It was conducive to collaboration which inspired better, synergistic, innovative ideas… Ideas that would have been more difficult to attain if we had been working in a more structured environment, like math class.
One characteristic that I’ve always appreciated in the schools I frequented (mostly in Portugal, Europel) were the presence of large classroom windows oriented to wooded/green areas. There was always something inspiring about listening to the teachers while visually enjoying the changing seasons throughout the year. Somehow, I felt it fostered creativity and imagination…
My positive experiences from K-12 come from spaces that were designed to create – art rooms, photography class (and the dark rooms) etc. But I think that’s because the activities distracted me from the environment – classrooms are built for utility, not creativity.
But I also remember the desks. I’ve never been “average” size, in height or weight – though I’ve also never been the biggest kid in class, either – and just didn’t fit into what was provided.
First of all, I really enjoy everyone else’s responses – fantastic information to have while in the process of creating a school. Makes me wish I had more control over the architecture in the short term, but perhaps down the road I will.
I also had a serious distaste for portables, though they have gotten infinitely better with technology. And I think that there is really no reason why English or History or any other subject can’t be taught in a similar environment to the creative spaces that several of you mentioned. I think the first step is just deciding that we aren’t going to order anymore desks. Why not experience History instruction at a table with a group, where you have people to share perspectives with? In Science it’s a given that you sit in tables for the “lab” time, but to me it could and should all be more like “lab” time in every class. Get rid of the tired old desks and you at least take the first steps toward that type of collaborative learning environment.
I’m also a big fan of some of the schools back east that have the large windows that open into nice, green courtyards. It gives you all of the benefits of having a view to the world in your classroom while realistically minimizing the distractions.
Thankfully, there are some companies out there that have actually taken on the task of trying to engineer more appropriate classroom and school environments. I listened to a gentleman speak from a company called Fielding Nair International – http://www.fieldingnair.com/home.aspx. They have some exciting projects on their web page, but – unfortunately – you are going to find very few of them in the United States. As is often the case, we are behind the times in innovative school design.
Dave, I like very much what you have to say and the perspective you bring as a principle. We should talk about how your model of instruction impacts the type of architecture it will be housed in.
For an well design response to portable classrooms check out Project Frog