Spotlight: Chris Lehman & Diana Laufenberg

Students from Science Leadership Academy Campus

There is a growing desire to reexamine education and learning. Educators use the phrase "school 2.0" to think about what schools will look like in the future. Moving beyond a basic examination of using technology for classroom instruction, there is a larger discussion of how education, learning, and our physical school spaces can—and should—change because of the changing nature of our lives brought on by these technologies.

Well known for their work in creating Science Leadership Academy (SLA), a technology-rich, collaborative, learner-centric school in Philadelphia, founding principal Chris Lehmann and  Diana Laufenberg, SLA executive director are uniquely positioned to speak about changing how we educate. The best strategies, featured in their talk, Creating the Schools We Need at the upcoming EDspaces conference in Tampa Florida, address enabling networked learning that allows research, creativity, communication, and collaboration to help prepare students to be functional citizens within a modern society.

Their talk includes discussions of the following key concepts:

• Technology must be ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible
• Classrooms must be learner-centric and use backwards design principles
• Good technology can be better than new technology
• Teachers must serve as mentors and bring real-world experiences to students

Their talk will help educators and administrators to examine specific practices in their schools, and to then take their conclusions from theory to practice. Collectively, the theses represent a new vision of school, built off of the best of what has come before us, but with an eye toward a future we cannot fully imagine.

About Chris and Diana

In 2013, Chris co-founded the non-profit Inquiry Schools with Diana Laufenberg to help more schools create more empowering, modern learning experiences for students, and he serves as Superintendent and Chair of the Board. In partnership with Inquiry Schools, Chris opened Science Leadership Academy (SLA) @ Beeber campus, the second campus in the SLA model, and in 2016, Chris co-founded Science Leadership Academy Middle School. SLA is a non-profit working to create and support student-centered learning environments that are inquiry driven, project based and utilizing modern technology. He is a respected educator and author,  Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need.


Diana currently serves as the Executive Director for Inquiry Schools and lives in West-Central Wisconsin. Diana was featured on TED.com for her “How to Learn? From Mistakes” and recognized for earning National Board Certification. Her publications include a featured piece on the New York Times Learning blog, co-authoring a chapter in an educational leadership book, and an article in the Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy.

Designing The Ideal Classroom

By David Mocton

The majority of classrooms in schools today are the same as they were 30, 40, or more years ago — a teacher’s desk up front, a board on the wall, rows of traditional student desks and chairs facing the front, and perhaps tables and windows in back. Some students do well in this environment but many do not.

Fortunately times are changing. Forward-thinking designers, product developers, and manufacturers are finding better ways to plan more productive learning spaces. Many more schools are now experimenting with different layouts that feature interactive environments, new types of furniture and equipment, and in some cases, no traditional classrooms at all.

What if you could create the optimal learning space? An environment where today’s students could thrive and their teachers could motivate and facilitate. What would that include?

At Hertz Furniture, we reached out to the 1,300 members of our “Classrooms of the Future” LinkedIn group — teachers, administrators, consultants, and designers — and asked them what the ideal classroom would look like. We wanted to know about design, furniture, technology, workspaces, color, and any other factors that would enhance student learning. While some results were expected, there were definitely some interesting surprises along the way, as well.

The Elements

So what elements are most important to today’s educators? 

• Ready access to technology

• Outdoor learning spaces

• Flexible workspaces with individual and collaborative learning areas

• A creative, fun and welcoming environment

While at first glance it might seem impractical to get all of these elements into one learning space, it may just be a matter of creativity and balance. Much of today’s flexible classroom furniture has been designed for comfort and technology. Additionally, flexible furniture allows both individual learning and collaborative work spaces in the same room. When thinking about design and layout, considering which setup will make technology the most accessible and straightforward can make a big difference in the daily experience of teachers and students.

Staying Flexible

Creating a flexible classroom starts with matching the right furniture with the curriculum and teaching style. It is simply not practical to expect elementary school students or their teachers to drag heavy desks and other equipment around the room on a regular basis depending on what’s needed for that class. Jerry Blumengarten, the Cybrary Man, thinks that “the most awesome classroom would have everything on wheels”.

With this arrangement, reorganizing the space as the need arises is quick and easy. This allows for flexibility at all times, so students can even re-arrange their own learning clusters throughout the day. It’s not just about desks and chairs either. With mobile boards, bookcases, and teacher’s desks, educators can experiment with different teaching models and room configurations throughout the year, join and work with groups of students, and renew the look of the space on a regular basis.

“The ideal classroom should be adaptable to learning needs —moveable walls and desks, work spaces that can accommodate different learning styles, integrated technology throughout the room, bulletin boards and display walls, and plenty of storage units,” said E. John Fredrich, Principal of Grace Lutheran Church and School. With the right amount of space and a clever layout, all of these things can be integrated into a classroom, while maintaining an aesthetic appeal. It seems that other educators agree as well, saying they would like to see inspirational messages on classroom walls as well as 4D immersive teaching and learning technology.

Based on the responses, there appears to be a consensus regarding flexibility in the classroom. Today’s educators don’t want to be limited when it comes to teaching and learning styles, or classroom arrangement. When we asked participants what kind of furniture should be included in the ideal classroom, flexible and movable furniture came out on top, with comfortable furniture as the second most popular choice. The good thing is, flexibility and comfort go together. Most modern school desks and chairs are designed with ergonomics and comfort in mind, so the comfort factor is already integrated.

Color Choices

A creative, fun and welcoming classroom environment starts with an enthusiastic educator, but a little help from an inviting design and color scheme can go a long way. Our survey respondents thought that ‘natural and warm’ colors were ideal, with ‘bright and bold’, and ‘rainbow color’ schemes tied for second. Thinking about colors in individual classrooms is important. Too many divergent color schemes vying for your students’ attention can make it difficult for them to focus. It’s better to commit to one family of colors and make sure everything in the room fits in harmoniously. Warm, natural hues make a learning space both inviting and relaxing, encouraging students to come right in and get to work.

Out With The Old

In addition to asking our survey participants what would be found in the best classroom, we also asked them what they would never want to see in their ideal classroom. Not surprisingly, a traditional setup where desks and chairs can’t be moved around was the least desirable. Clutter, punishment areas, closed and barred windows, textbooks, and dull colors were also mentioned.

Some of these things might seem obvious when thinking in abstract terms, but it’s also important to consciously keep in mind what teachers don’t want during the school year. If they find that the room setup has been the same for a while, encourage them to mix things up. When it suddenly seems that papers are piling up on desks and the shelves are overstocked, suggest customers take some time to regroup and reduce clutter to create a more open learning environment. Creating the ideal classroom is not just about repainting, rearranging and getting some new furniture, it also requires consistent maintenance to retain and renew the original appeal of the space.

What Comes Naturally

We found that educators can be innovative when they are not limited by budget or space concerns. What interesting items do today’s educators want to see in their classrooms? Responses included outdoor learning spaces, and increased connection with nature, a sunroof to let natural light into the classroom, and even a space where students can read peacefully while swaying gently in hammocks. Preschool teacher Teri Bierman dreams of “creating an indoor garden that children can explore year round.” Other responses included bright yoga balls to allow students to gently bounce and balance as they release energy and stay focused on the task at hand, floor-to-ceiling whiteboard walls with idea paint to encourage students to brainstorm freely, work through problems and formulas and leave their personal touches directly on the walls of the classroom. When there are no limitations and educators are free to dream of the perfect space, their ideas are truly remarkable.

Role Play

Besides the ‘where’ and the ‘what’ of the physical classroom, many respondents addressed the ‘how’ of the ideal classroom —how would students learn best.

Simply because we have a teacher and students in the room together, doesn’t mean we have to retain the traditional teacher- student dynamic. Hal Porter, an education consultant said, “The savvy 21st century middle and high school teacher functions as facilitator, coach and resource; the student functions as team member, researcher and creative problem solver; and the classroom may extend, virtually and actually, beyond its walls.”

Similar views were expressed by others who felt that through virtual reality, electronic textbooks, interactive whiteboards, smart TVs, and other innovations, students would be more in control of their learning and benefit from it. “The most awesome classroom is where students are self-directed and conferencing and making their own learning decisions with guidance,” said Dr. Vicki Knopke.

It’s clear that technology and flexibility should be main factors in determining the design and layout of an ideal educational space. It would be enlightening to see what the space would look like and what the results would be when creative ideas such as hammocks, sun roofs and whiteboard walls are integrated into classrooms. We hope these results encourage educators and designers to really consider what matters when designing classrooms, think outside the box, and create the best spaces for today’s students.

David Mocton is the President of Hertz Furniture, a nationwide dealer of 21st century educational furniture. David is passionate about providing schools with classroom layouts and furniture that enhance students’ ability to succeed. David leads the popular ”Classrooms of the Future” group on LinkedIn. He can be reached at dmocton@hertzfurniture.com.

Brain-Friendly Learning Spaces

by Robert Dillon

Leading space design isn’t another thing to add to the already busy schedule for school leaders, but it is an essential lever of change that can support all of the initiatives in the building. It is a comprehensive effort to rethink space design. Leading space design will grow the school’s capacity for change, promote a healthy learning culture, and garner the support of the greater community. It goes well beyond conversations about how new furniture, hacked furniture and flexible seating can change the learning in the classroom.

Optimizing classroom design has primarily been the role for architects and designers on the larger scale and classroom teachers in their individual spaces. Both groups have done some amazing things to meet the modern learning needs of students, but these efforts have been limited in their scale and long-term impact because they haven’t focused on having building and district leaders central to the design process.

Leaders that are playing a central role in these conversations are seeing how excellent space design from the outside of the building, all the way to the classroom, leads to amazing benefits. These benefits include: showcasing the vision of the school in a nonverbal way, uniting  teachers, students, and leaders, telling the story of the change and innovation taking place in the building, caring in new ways for the whole child, shifting teaching and learning, and finally, building leadership capacity throughout the organization.

The Non-Verbal Vision

Walls talk and every image speaks a thousand words about a school. Leaders are always looking for their vision of success to be understood and embraced in deeper ways by more students, teachers, and parents. Space design is the non-verbal vision of a school, and intentional design can help to get everyone pursuing the same purpose.

Moving to Commitment

A redesign process elevates more voices into the learning space. It democratizes the decisions about entryways, hallways, classrooms, and libraries. These shared projects help to move an organization from compliance to commitment. Having a role in designing the school from pedagogical design to designing the use of digital tools to the rethinking of the space brings a fresh level of commitment to the work happening throughout the school.

Showcasing Innovation

Schools are changing. Leaders are supporting this change, yet too much of it is trapped in individual classrooms with a small audience of individuals that both know and understand the changes that are happening. Leaders in the habit of intentional space design are able to showcase the growth and innovation at their school based solely on how the building speaks on its own and tells the story of students learning in deep and modern ways.

A Place of Caring

Schools can be institutional. Many have been designed to maximize functionality and get as many students through a school day as possible. The mission of learning communities continues to be caring for children, and the space can be a key component. Do students feel a sense of belonging? Do they have spaces that support their many needs? Leaders are redesigning to maximize care, concern, and belonging?

New Ways of Learning

Connected learning that brings students to experts and experts to students is hard to realize in desks and rows. Critical thinking struggles in spaces that aren’t filled with questions and places to explore. Collaboration between classes, grade levels, and students can be maximized when there are common spaces that support the movement and space that students and teachers need to design these experiences.

Build New Leaders

Excellent school leaders are swamped in both the urgent and significant tasks of each day, and the need to build internal leadership capacity to fully realize a distributed leadership model is central to their long-term effectiveness. Rethinking and redesigning can be a vehicle for building capacity. As teachers and staff see themselves as space designers, they are freed to make other decisions about the learning environment. This empowerment means more and more decisions that support kids by design.

The research continues to support the positive impacts that are possible with changes to the learning spaces, and many leaders are seeing the power that space design has had on individual classrooms. All of this is helping to nudge more and more school and district leaders to see learning space changes as essential to the work as pedagogical change and digital changes. Ultimately, these three areas work as a triad for meaningful change.

Every space in every school has room to grow in its design. There are way too many tired spaces that speak loudly to parents, teachers, students, and the community. They can leave people believing that the school says one thing and does another. They can leave people believing that the level of detail for success isn’t present at the school. They can, most importantly, lead people to believe that excellent learning isn’t possible in this space. To begin to seeing how space impacts all areas of a learning community, consider these questions.

Outside of the building

●    What message does the outside of the building send? Many people in the community judge their school based on driving by.

●    Does the outside of the building speak to only safety and security or does it tell the learning story?

●    How does the green space showcase a level of excellence?

Entryway of the school

●    How many times do visitors see the word no as they enter the building?

●    Is there welcoming signage from the parking lot to the place to check in?

●    Are there old posters, furniture and art work near the entryway?

●    Do individuals feel welcomed? How soon do visitors see images of students learning?

Hallways

●    Can students learn concepts by just walking down the hallway?

●    Are hallways filled with learning examples that both showcase learning process and product?

●    What art and design features are displayed in the hallways?

●    What signage speaks to mission, purpose, and the key concepts of the building?

●    Do your hallways tell the non-verbal story of your learning community?

Common Spaces

Libraries, cafeterias, gymnasiums are areas that are seen and used by most students each day. In addition, they are heavily seen and used by the community.

●    What level of design has gone into these spaces?

●    Do they show the level of detail to cleanliness that speaks to the excellence in the building? Do they promote caring and belonging?

●     Are these areas energy creators or energy vampires?

Forgotten Spaces

Visit a school’s bathrooms and their teachers’ lounge and you can learn a lot about the school.

●     Are the bathrooms sanitary and comfortable?

●     Has design played a role in how they have changed over time?

●     Does the teachers’ lounge speak loudly to the professionalism of the staff?

●     Does the teachers’ space feel like a place where teachers would gather to think, reflect, and learn?

The time has come to move beyond furniture and flexibility in classrooms, and begin to lead in a comprehensive way around space design. This work can be an essential lever of change for school leaders as they look to build a modern school that supports the needs of all students. By leading this way, leaders can begin the conversations and changes needed to shift the culture, community support, and capacity for learning needed for true meaningful success for all students.

Dr. Robert Dillon serves the students and community of the University City as Director of Innovation Learning. Prior to this position, he served as a teacher and administrator in public schools throughout the Saint Louis area. Dr. Dillon serves on the leadership team for Connected Learning, a Saint Louis based organization designed to reshape professional development to meet today's needs. Dr. Dillon has published four books: THE SPACE: A Guide for Educators; Redesigning Learning Spaces; Leading Connected Classrooms; and Engage, Empower, Energize: Leading Tomorrow's Schools Today.

Positive Impact of Flexible Learning Spaces

Recorded Webinar Presentation by: 
Sinan Kerimofski, Principal at Vasse Primary School, Vasse, Western Australia

Principal and international speaker Sinan Kerimofski takes participants on a journey detailing the shift from traditional learning environments to flexible learning spaces and the positive impact on students and educators. 

Based in Australia, Sinan has been using his leadership role in multiple schools to transform pedagogy and the spaces in which learning takes place. Most recently he has initiated the transformation of a heritage school building into a contemporary learning space to foster 21st-century skills. The result has been increased engagement from students; empowered educators; and a flourishing wider community.


"We try to focus mainly on our positives on the walls. We don’t want it smattered with what’s coming up here or there or anything like that, or promotional material. We keep it for some functional, operational type stuff," says Sinan.

You can receive continuing education credit by submitting your AIA number via email to customerservice@edmarket.org for one AIA LU, applicable to this webinar.
 

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F3 – Fixed, Flexible & Fluid Learning Spaces

Photo credit: DLR Group

 by Dr. Lennie Scott-Webber, NCIDQ, AIA Affiliate 

It is argued here that flexibility is just one component of designing to support intended behaviors, and the design community perhaps interprets the word differently than the education community. 

Designing for flexibility is often the ‘go to’ for classroom solutions. A general understanding is that a flexible design “adapts to new situations,” and when incorporating it one is attempting to have a one-size-fits all solution set up for a variety of teaching practices. It suggests if a flexible solution is used, all design issues are solved, and teaching practices are made easy no matter how one delivers one’s practice. Design solutions must support the users’ needs and intended behaviors —that’s a given. But do designers and educators speak the same language and have the same inference regarding terms? Let’s examine the design and teaching practices continuums along with what we know about how we learn, and then provide some linkages in terms of language and solutions.

How we learn is being studied ever more intensely by brain scientists than ever before. We know so much more about how we learn, what it takes to stay focused and why engagement in one’s learning is key to overall student success according to research findings[1]^,[2],[3]. That evidence indicates sitting still is not conducive to learning. We need to move to learn and we need to stand to stay focused longer. Research further argues it is OK for the mind to drift; in fact it must, as focusing for too long is just not possible. Our brains can truly focus for about 10-15 minutes and then need a break. Postural change helps us all particularly when we are working on computers and focusing or working on a particular problem; standing up, sitting down and lying down should all be considered.

And the more we can connect students emotionally to the learning tasks/problems kinesthetically [through our senses] the more information is retained. As advanced learning designs supporting active learning increase and classrooms are replaced with ‘learning suites and maker spaces,’ we have the opportunity to challenge and invent a new language, bridging the perceived gap between design’s language and the educator’s. Thus, this article presents the 3 F’s, or F³ – Fixed, Flexible and Fluid. The information shared here is an attempt to bridge a perceived gap in language between a design language and a teaching practice language. F³’s are explained first from a design solution perspective and then from a teaching strategy one.

This article suggests design solutions work within a continuum of F³ – Fixed, Flexible and Fluid. It is this continuum that needs further explanation and understanding.

FIXED represents all of those items physically built into the infrastructure of a building. In other words, if you turned a building upside down those items would not fall out. Examples include cabinetry, bolted down seating, and of course the building’s entire structure and infrastructure.

FLEXIBLE may translate into several design opportunities. Solutions are often categories as items with castors, fairly lightweight tables easily moved, and items that are ‘wrenchable,’ but all with predictable and set patterns for alteration. An example of wrenchable might be an open office cubicle situation. It can be moved, but not easily, but it is not built into the building. The challenge with ‘flexible’ is that most often furnishings are heavy, or awkward and thus not easily reconfigured. So, guess what? They don’t get reconfigured. In fact, these flexible places become more fixed just for the fact that items are not easy to move.

FLUID in the design sense might translate to a swivel seat on a chair, a clicker that allows for a digital screen to be changed, and lights/temperature changed with the flick of a control — perhaps like a Google home devise. Little movement or rearrangement is required in a fluid situation, and all are not predictable. Where students choose to move in a chair with wheels is not necessarily in a specific pattern. If these examples illustrate a ‘design language’ for educators to interpret, how might designers interpret the educators’ needs with a variety of teaching practices?

Teaching practices have a continuum of sorts as well from the very traditional lecture to a simultaneous, multi-modal strategy, to a fully operational tinker/maker/production space as some of the most creative. Each of these practices elicits strategies and places that must support them. Types of strategies might also include problem-based, project-based, inquiry-based, etc. approaches to deliver content. A lecture as we have come to understand it is teacher-centric. The teacher comes in prepared to share knowledge and may utilize a projector and screen to support a visual connection to the content accompanying the verbal one. Often we think of the design solutions as fixed seating, or tiered lecture halls. Here students should be in active listening mode, perhaps taking notes, but nothing more is typically expected.

In the second practice described, it could be likened to a one-room schoolhouse, or more student-focused. Thus, in a simultaneous, multi-modal strategy, multiple learning activity situations, and content delivery approaches are going on at the same time and in fact some students may be leading certain components while the educator leads others. One-to-one, peer-to-peer and small group to whole group situations strategies are incorporated. Here the educator is more of the ‘guide on the side’ acting as a facilitator allowing students to discover on their own in a pre-planned and purposeful strategy(ies). Multiple types of postures, equipment, technologies and places within a room(s) are needed to orchestrate these situations successfully — a fluid solution is best here. For example, the simplest and most impactful furniture solution for fluid connection is a swivel chair. The individual does not have to reconfigure anything and can simply and easily move slightly or swivel entirely without getting out of one’s seat. He/she can connect to others, or see content wherever it might be presented.

The third scenario, or a creative space, acts in much the same way as the multimodal ones, is still student-centric, however depending upon the type and more importantly the equipment required; a balance must be struck between students being on their own and the educator directing their discovery. This type of pedagogical practice is more likened to an apprentice / master one. As equipment and access to tools are most often needed, this type of space may be designed supporting a fixed to flexible solutions.

This article has explored the language given to F³, or fixed, flexible and fluid, in an attempt to align design language to the language of teaching strategies. The bottom line is both design and pedagogy solutions need all three F’s; essential for appropriate advanced learning solutions. However, we seem to have a design predisposition to the fixed and the flexible ones. It is further argued here to be truly active as an educator and to have students actively engage in their learning processes, we need to push the boundaries of fluid. Easy access and ability to follow content wherever it may be displayed, shared, talked about could be a new driver. As active learning practices increase in more advanced learning places, it is ever more important to allow for fluid and quick transitions from individual work to small group work and back again.

 About the Author:

“Dr. Lennie” is a leading thinker on the evolution of what we know about learning, the learner and the learning place has pioneered research strategies addressing how the built environment impacts student engagement factors and learner success, and has designed future-focused, evidence-based design applications for 20+ years. Currently, she is the Owner / Principal of INSYNC: Education Research + Design. She is also acting as the Education Research Leader for DLR Group’s K12 Education Practice. She was formerly the founding Director of Education Environments Globally for Steelcase Education; tenured, full-professor and chair of two design schools; Director of the iLAB Research Center, Radford University; professional interior designer, author, published researcher, national and international speaker.

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[1]Scott-Webber, L., Konyndyk, R., French, R., Lembke, J., & Kinney, T. (2017). Spatial design makes a difference in student academic engagement levels: A pilot study for grades 9-12. European Scientific Journal. 13(16), ISSN: 1857-7881 Doi: 10.19044/esj.2017.v13n16p5.

[2] Kilbourne, J., Scott-Webber, L., & Kapitula, L.R. (2017). An activity-permissible classroom: Impacts of an evidence-based design solution on student engagement and movement in an elementary school classroom. Children, Youth and Environments 27(1): 112-134.

[3] Nissim, Y., Weissblueth, E., Scott-Webber, L. & Amar, S. (2016). The effect of a new stimulating learning environment on pre-service teachers’ motivation and 21^st century skills. Journal of Education and Learning: Vol. 5, No. 3. pp. 29-39. Doi:10.5539/jel.v5n3p29.

Designing Classrooms for Students with EMDs

By Christopher L. Daikos MiT, MEd, EdS

One of the greatest social justice challenges facing educators today is how to best serve children with Emotional Behavioral Disabilities (EBD). Many students come to school with entrenched emotional and/or behavioral difficulties that impede their and other students’ ability to access their education. External behaviors typically associated with these students exhibit a range of social, emotional, and behavioral problems, including physical aggression, school refusal, bullying, and defiance towards authority.

The Department of Education’s 36^th Annual Report on Individuals with Disabilities Act indicated that students who have been identified as EBD represent 6.2% of the student population, a subset population within Special Education that has consistently increased annually. Nationally students with disabilities have a graduation rate of 63% (Department of Education 2015), yet students with EBD have a national graduation well below 50%. With the current model of training, facilities and services in place we see results in which students with EBD are arrested at a rate of 60% prior to leaving school and 40% are on probation prior to leaving school. The data clearly indicates, nationally, the services we provide students with EBD result in the strongest conduit in the school to prison pipeline. This is a national crisis that few are paying attention to. Those involved in designing and outfitting educational spaces can help right this wrong.

How Did We Get Here?

To qualify for special education services for EBD, schools must first attempt two evidence-based interventions to address behaviors of concern. If the interventions fail, students are assessed based on the following criteria set by the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA), which defines EBD as meeting one or more of the following criteria:

• An inability to learn that cannot be explained by intellectual, sensory, or health factors.
• An ina­bility to build or maintain satisfactory interpersonal relationships with peers and teachers.
• Inappropriate types of behavior or feelings under normal circumstances.
• A general pervasive mood of unhappiness or depression.
• A tendency to develop physical symptoms or fears associated with personal or school problems.

The challenges presented by students with EBD cuts across disciplinary, instructional, and interpersonal domains, which frequently results in chaotic school and classroom environments. The characteristics of students with EBD can overwhelm the ability and capacity of schools and staff to effectively accommodate their instructional and social-emotional needs. Consequently, more than any other group, students with EBD are placed and educated in restrictive educational settings sequestered from their peers. Such spaces tend to be located in areas that have the least impact on others when students in EBD classes have emotional outbursts. It is not uncommon to find EBD classes in portables or in remote locations within the building. 

Historically such restrictive spaces were used as a dystopian daycare for some of our neediest students. Restrictive educational settings with no standardized approach towards student intervention have been troubling when considering the results of the poor services and outcomes for these students. The need to provide intentionally designed spaces to provide evidenced-based interventions for students with EBD is paramount and could result in the greatest impact on school wide discipline and improve the life outcomes of some our neediest students.

What Can We Do?

Meeting the unique needs of students with EBD and simultaneously maintaining a safe and orderly school environment that is conducive to learning places a tremendous amount of stress on educators. Historically school design has been a one size fits all approach. When designing spaces to serve children with EBD, before the first architectural design is drawn educators and architects need to work together to account for a safe and secure space for counseling and therapy, private meeting space for small group and individual interventions, safety exits for students and staff, restorative space, just to name a few.

Incorporating the above elements I worked with Architect Daniel Gero of Integrus Architecture in Seattle and generated the following design. The space below incorporates two classrooms providing all the elements needed for a successful EBD classroom. With consideration that the typical EBD class has 9 to 11 students with 1 teacher and 2 support staff we decided to remove a wall and replace it with a retractable divider. This means that educators can team 18-22 students with 2 teachers and 4 support staff. 

Larger Design Elements

A school psychologist should have access to a private space within the class or close to it to allow consistent communication among the education staff. The intent on such communication is to make certain interventions are informed with the students needs and that they are done with fidelity. Too often children with EBD receive counseling outside of the school with no control of quality and evidence-based counseling practices. An additional beneficial factor is the opportunity for family members to be onsite when attending family counseling sessions, which are an integral component to cognitive behavior therapy.

Our design provides a space for restorative practices. This space is referred to as the Boring Room, situated between the counseling room and the teachers’ office. The intent of this space is for students to have a quiet area to reflect on inappropriate behaviors through a restorative exercise. 

Conclusion

The above design is our first attempt to support a population who represent some of the neediest students in our schools. In general, current practices in EBD classes continue to result in more negative life outcomes than not. We encourage other educators, manufacturers, designers and architects to take on one the greatest social justice challenges that we face in our communities today. In a society that provides compensatory education we must be aware that all students enter our schools with some unique needs, some more acute than others. It is our responsibility to meet those needs and provide the appropriate space that facilitates all services and interventions needed to support children with EBD.

About the Author:

Christopher Daikos is an Educational/Psychological Consultant at Continua Group in Seattle, WA. He works with school district administration and staff for the design and implementation of special education interventions. Chris holds master’s degrees in special education and educational leadership and policies, and is pursuing a PhD in education psychology from the University of Washington.

How to Get Started with a School Maker Space

by Mark Hubbard, Paragon Furniture

Looking to inspire the next generation of tinkerers and innovators, a growing number of schools are creating maker spaces equipped with everything from popsicle sticks and glue guns to electronics kits and 3D printers.

When educators encourage students to learn by creating, they inspire students to take ownership of their learning. Students become highly engaged and invested in their education.

In the process, students can learn not only key STEM concepts (like how an electronic circuit works or what the engineering design process entails), but also 21st-century skills such as problem-solving, teamwork, critical thinking, creativity, and perseverance.

Creating a maker space for your schools might seem like a daunting task. But it doesn’t have to be. The first step is to articulate your vision for the space and outline the goals you hope to accomplish. Your vision and goals will help you answer other critical questions, such as what the space should look like, how it will be equipped, and so on.

Here are four key questions to guide your initial planning. 

1. Who will use the space? 

When you’re deciding who your maker space is intended for, consider which grade levels or age ranges you want to target. Are you building a space for students in grades K-2? Grades three to five? Six to eight? High school? Will the space serve multiple age ranges?

Also, which classes or academic disciplines will use the space? Is it meant only for certain subject areas, or for all academic subjects? Finally, will you open your maker space to members of the public, such as adults for night classes or students from other schools?

2. How, and when, will students use the space?

It’s also important to understand how—and when—you plan to use the space. Will it be used for formal, structured learning activities led by a teacher? Informal, student-directed learning and exploration? Or both? Will students use the space during school hours? Before or after school? Or both?

3. What are your instructional goals?

You’ve addressed the “who,” “how,” and “when.” Before you go any further, you also have to answer “why”.  What are your learning goals in creating a maker space for your school? Are you hoping students will learn core academic skills, 21st century skills, or both?

If core academic learning is your target, how do your intended learning activities align with state instructional standards, Next Generation Science Standards, or other curriculum goals? And if 21st skills are your desired outcome, which specific skills are you hoping students will acquire? How will the activities completed in the space lead to the development of these skills? 

4. How will you measure success? 

Finally, what methods will you use to evaluate the success of your maker space initiative? Will you use formal measurements of the skills students gain, informal observation and reflection, or both?

If you’re measuring the skills that students gain, what types of assessments will you use? How will you put these together? If you’re using informal observation and reflection, how will you collect this information? Will you use teacher observation forms, post-program surveys of students, or some other method?

Once you have a plan for how your maker space will be used, you can design the actual space itself. When you are designing a maker space, you’ll want to make sure the space promotes creativity and collaboration. You can encourage both of those traits through the design of the space itself. Here are some ideas to guide you.

• Ask students what they want. Giving students a voice in the design of the space can inspire their ingenuity.
• Build flexibility into the design of the space. Use furniture that can be arranged easily in many different configurations to promote different kinds of student groupings and activities.
• Take inspiration from the “stations” approach to classroom design that is common in elementary schools. Consider creating separate areas for different kinds of activities, and equip each area as appropriate.
• Include open, informal spaces for students to gather together, brainstorm and bounce ideas off one other. Soft seating options can make the space comfortable and inviting for students to congregate.

When students are given the chance to create, anything is possible.  Students become excited and engaged, and real learning occurs.  

About the Author:

Mark Hubbard is president of Paragon Furniture. Mark frequently interacts with dealers, architects, designers, owner representatives and end-users in order to better understand how the instructional tools of education are transforming learning environments and the furnishings within.  Download a free copy of “How to Create a Maker Space in your school – A step-by-step guide to unleashing student’s creativity”.

Connecting Furniture Planning and Student Engagement

by Gwen Morgan

Located in Detroit’s northern suburbs, Bloomfield Hills Schools is a district with a long history of forward-thinking educational instruction. As one of the top performing districts in the country, Bloomfield Hills Schools recognized more than a decade ago the need to redesign its facilities and re-imagine its programming to support the changing educational needs of 21st century students, preparing them for success in college and the workplace. 

Planning for the new Bloomfield Hills High School began with a year-long facilitation process, which was driven by the district’s Ten Guiding Principles of Teaching and Learning. Extensive community engagement led to the development of a concept that consolidated the two existing high schools – Andover and Lahser – into one state-of-the-art facility on the Andover site featuring small learning communities. 

Co-designed by Stantec’s Berkley, Mich. office and Fielding Nair International, the resulting 350,000-square-foot building opened in August 2015 and includes 233,000 square feet of new construction and 117,000 square feet of renovations made to the former Andover High School. 

The central design concept lies within nine learning communities, each of which integrate core classes in a collaborative, technology-rich learning environment to encourage collaboration, student directed learning, project-based learning and interdisciplinary instruction. 

Each learning community includes a wide variety of learning spaces – from small group rooms to larger break out spaces, to rooms for individual work – all of which are designed to meet the needs of different kinds of learners and different kinds of activities. The design of each community offers students and teachers the flexibility to ebb and flow from spaces, encouraging interdisciplinary instruction and a more collegiate-like experience.

Outfitting the Space

Designed to support pedagogy that places a greater focus on personalization and collaboration, the high school looks and functions unlike any other. Armed with this understanding, the district recognized early in the design process that they would need furniture solutions that would align with the instructional model.

A furniture pilot program conducted simultaneous to construction of the new school offered a unique opportunity for the district to embrace changes in pedagogy, understand new classroom environments, and evaluate the influence that furniture and technology has on the learning experience. 

As part of the pilot program, teachers and students in nine classrooms tested a variety of furniture solutions and evaluated it for its ability to transition from activity to activity, adapt from subject to subject, and encourage student engagement. At the end of the year-long study, the results directly influenced furniture selection for the new school.


Collecting the Data

The study began by gathering information from the 18 teachers slated to teach in the classrooms throughout the school year. This “pre-occupancy” survey focused on learning more about what types of furniture the teachers used in past classrooms, what kinds of furniture they thought would work well in the future, and how important they believed furniture solutions are to the learning environment. In their responses, teachers clearly expressed that type, comfort, flexibility, and variety of furniture has a significant impact on the both the teaching and learning experience.

Following furniture installation in the test classrooms, student surveys and onsite observations were conducted periodically each semester. In the surveys, students were asked to identify the courses they had taken in the test classrooms, their grade level, and which types of furniture they felt were most successful in supporting their learning. 

The survey results identified a number of student furniture preferences. For instance, students saw standing height tables and two-person tables with chairs as helpful for small group learning. Tablet arm chairs were popular for individual work, but were one of the least supportive solutions when it came to transitioning from activity to activity within a class period. For this mid-class period transition, larger tables to seat four to six people seemed to work better. Students consistently agreed on the positive impact that comfort and ergonomics had on their learning experience. 

The onsite observations consisted of two full days at the end of each semester, during which time observers rotated through the classrooms, taking note of how students used the furniture. Additionally, posters showing a variety of furniture layouts were placed in the classrooms and students were asked to select which furniture types they had used that day and what furniture type they thought might have worked better. The most popular selections were large project tables and standing-height tables, while tablet arm chairs and individual desks were the least popular.

A visual observation of the students using the furniture yielded additional trends. For instance, researchers found that incorporating a variety of furniture solutions within a room seemed to work well for both individual and group work. In addition, varying heights allowed strong visual connection between teachers and students. In smaller rooms, the furniture was moved less, due to lack of space, and was more likely to remain set up in rows for the duration of a period. Chairs on casters greatly eased movement between individual and group work. In many cases, storage was an issue, with backpacks taking up quite a bit of floor space.

Results

Armed with a year’s worth of research and study, the team compiled its findings as they set out to plan the furniture for the new school, focusing on the furniture’s ability to transition, adapt and promote student engagement.

Transition 

When it comes to transitioning from activity to activity, the researchers found that while teachers and students appreciated a variety of furniture to choose from, having too many options made the room feel chaotic. In order to achieve balance, findings suggested that classrooms should have enough space to move furniture in a way that best supports their current activity. Also, furniture should be intuitive in order to minimize the need for teacher training on how to take advantage of the different options.

Adaptability

The ability to adapt a room for different subjects, teaching styles, or uses was found to be critical to the new school’s learning community format. Results emphasized the importance of resetting the furniture between classes to a general function layout. In order to reduce the time spent moving the furniture, students needed to become familiar with the standard arrangements so they could adjust and adapt to their surroundings quickly. 

In addition, the study showed that the furniture needed to be able to adapt to technology. While the technology used for the study was not the same as what would be used in the new school, the main lesson remained the same: the overall design should be proactive and focus on how the furniture could best support the day’s activity, meaning accessibility to charging stations and power locations.

Student Engagement

Nearly across the board, students agreed that furniture has an impact on both their level of engagement and the way they learn throughout a class period. Furthermore, results asserted that students recognized the role the furniture plays in supporting collaborative activities like group work.

When it comes down to it, in order to engage students, comfort matters! Students reported furniture that allowed for posture change and choice helped make students “learning-ready.” Most preferred were two-person tables and standing height tables, while only a few students preferred ottomans. 

Students also noted that while ease of furniture rearrangement is important in supporting the way they learn, too much movement actually decreased student engagement, so strategies should be in place to manage this. Wheels on seating were much preferred over wheels on tables.

Implementing the Findings

When Bloomfield Hills High School opened in August 2015, it had an innovative pedagogy, and a cutting-edge furniture program to match. The majority of the enclosed student spaces are furnished with larger tables and chairs on casters, with a few standing height tables, as was preferred by staff and students in the study. Smaller learning studios contain single-person desks and chairs for more individual work. The project rooms feature larger tables for four to six people, but maintain the same mobility offered in the learning studios. The common areas offer a combination of tables and lounge furniture to complement the more formal learning areas.

The information gathered from the surveys, test classrooms, and observations collectively gave the design team a strong direction about what would work for the new Bloomfield Hills High School. Equally as important, the pilot program worked as a conduit for teachers and students to get a feel for how a new model of teaching and learning will occur in the new school. By applying the successful solutions of the pilot classrooms to the new furniture package, the district ended up with a tried-and-true solution from day one of class.           

GWEN MORGAN is an interior designer with significant experience in the design of educational facilities, both higher education and K-12 buildings, including LEED projects.  She has also managed numerous FF&E projects, from programming, budgeting, furniture and finish selection, to bid document preparation, installation coordination and supervision.  She currently leads Stantec’s Research and Benchmarking team for FF&E and Technology.