ABOUT SCHOOL STUDIO
School Design Research Studio seeks to advance the knowledge of effective physical environments for learning by promoting collaborative design and cooperative research.
We promote collaboration in planning, design and management and action research that, engages children, youth, parents, teachers, and surrounding community. We encourage all motivated designers driven to reflective practice to share their in-process, planning and design concepts in the spirit of research hypotheses. We invite all motivated researchers inspired to share their exploratory thinking in an interactive exchange.
We need only look to the adult work environment where collaboration is key to successful projects. School planners and architects are developing a variety of school designs that support personalized, self-directed learning. Visit Fielding Nair International at http://www.fieldingnair.com for recent projects emphasizing collaborative workspace design.
FEATURED ARTICLE: 33 Educational Design Principles
This paper provides a framework of thirty-three educational design principles from which educators and design professionals can structure the content of their educational facility development process, from the earliest strategic and educational planning right through to design, construction, occupancy and facility management. The principles are divided into educational facility planning and design process principles, principles for site and building organization, principles for primary educational space, principles for shared school and community facilities, community spaces, principles related to the character of all spaces, and principles related to site design and outdoor learning spaces.
School Design Research Studio has a new blog to fully realize our mission to encourage all motivated designers driven to reflective practice to share their in-process, planning and design concepts, as well as invite all motivated researchers inspired to share their exploratory thinking in an interactive exchange.
Visit SDRS to view some recent posts:
Collaborative Space: Collaborative Learning: Educators know that authentic collaborative learning prepares learners for the changing learning expectations in the real-world through an active learning process that teaches critical thinking, problem solving, teamwork, negotiation skills, reaching consensus, using technology, and taking responsibility for one's own learning. http://schoolstudio.typepad.com/school_design_research_st/2007/02/collaborative_s.html
Getting Serious @ Gunma Kokusai Academy: These kids are deep at work trying to figure out what the Sensei wants, and getting it right. At least they get to work in style. Check out this furniture! - wish you had this kind of fun place to work in school when you were seven years old? http://schoolstudio.typepad.com/school_design_research_st/japan/index.html
Project “CO-SEED”: COmmunity-School Environmental EDucation: Michael Duffin, Principal of Program Evaluation and Educational Research (PEER) Associates in Swanzey, New Hampshire, recently completed his dissertation evaluating a successful EE (Environmental Education) school in Boston. http://schoolstudio.typepad.com/school_design_research_st/2007/02/project_coseed_.html
Featured Textbook
Ken Tanner and Jeff Lackney have co-authored the definitive textbook on educational facilities planning. Our essential goal in writing this book on educational architecture is to establish a common language, a Lingua Franca, for better more constructive communication among the various groups and interests involved in planning, designing, constructing, and using educational facilities. We have found that the communication divide between architecture and education, and in general between researchers and practitioners in both fields are as wide as they have ever been, despite sincere, thoughtful and tireless efforts of individuals in both disciplines – many voices of whom we have endeavored to capture in this book. Flowing from our fundamental goal of improved cross-disciplinary communication, are several purposes for writing this book. First, we aim to introduce ideas that encourage people who plan and design physical learning environments to become more responsive to students’ needs and community cultures. Second, we anticipate this book will provide a scholarly reference work for practicing educational leaders and architects that picks up where most guideline books leave off. Finally, we intend for this book to be the primary textbook for students of education architecture and planning who plan to either become school administrators, professional designers or educational researchers.