You can build with earth in three ways:
1. Mud brick/ adobe: unbaked bricks (these could be used for walls, vaulting, etc)
2. Soil block: Compressed, unbaked brick
3. Rammed earth: compacted in formwork, could be reinforced with things like bamboo. Monolithic and has some possibility of curved surfaces, probably harder to make roofs out of...
I understand Village Hope has managed to obtain a brick compressing machine, which would be interesting to play around with and experiment. But what we need to do now is figure out the contents of the soil in our site. To take maximum advantage of the natural resources and the sustainability potential of earth, it would be ideal to only use earth excavated from the site itself. However, there earth has to have a good ratio of sand, silt, and clay... the desired mixture should have plenty of the latter. On the other hand, if it has too much clay, sand and gravel might have to be brought in and mixed in.
Apparently some criteria that could be considered when design for earth are:
-High humidity regulation and absorption
-High thermal mass index (to regulate temperature)
-Can be coated to become less permeable
-Lends itself to use of green roofs (look at the funky earth house in Switzerland designed by Peter Vetsch)
-Can build vaults with the bricks (consider methods like Nubian vaulting or Ramon Aguirre's Mexican vaulting that don't require formwork)
2 comments:
JOANNA-
BELOW IS YOUR WONDERFUL SUMMARY ALONG WITH RESPONSES I HAVE ADDED IN CAPITAL LETTERS. IN A SECOND COMMENT I AM GOING TO PROVIDE YOU WITH A COPY OF A LECTURE REGARDING CLASSROOM DESIGN. BEST, ALAN
Dear Alan,
Here is what I have been working on this week:
We've been talking to Jon Bart and also with the D-LAB (they're also working on
the January project). For this semester, we're going to conduct alot of
research on earth construction, feasibility studies, etc. After everyone does a
general research on the different possible building systems: rammed earth,
unbaked mud brick, compressed soil brick, timber and thatch, we will split up
tasks for deeper studies into each system as it would be applied to: walls,
floor, roof, etc. Then we will pick the best option...any of these will save
money. We are still waiting for the soil sample tests from Sierra Leone, but
this will give us a better idea of whether we would need to add gravel, clays,
or cement to the soil. We don't think cement will be necessary though.
Then in January the D-Lab students, Jon Bart, and I will begin construction in a
very simple building using the chosen method. Since there are several buildings
involved in each school site, we don't even have to begin building in the main
school...it could be the office part, or the headmasters' house. This would
give us an idea about how fast it is to build, how easy, how labor intensive
(locals are going to help build), and how it looks aesthetically, among other
things. This will later serve as a foundation for my thesis studies. The main
reason why we want to start building in January is so that we can take
advantage of the dry season.
The product of my thesis will involve more design: we are proposing to build 6
schools total, in different villages of the Lunsar area. Each school is
actually a complex of buildings including: Main classrooms, an office, a
storage/ equipment room, a bathroom unit, the headmaster's house, and open
courtyard or garden common areas. For my thesis I'm free to design many
different schools designs. In the end, some could be more design driven and
some could be more cost/ efficiency driven (I could even have a gradient). In
real life, they may choose to build the same model for all the schools, or a
different one for each, they might want to go for the most interesting design
driven one or maybe not... the idea is that my creative flows are not
necessarily constricted by the reality of the situation; sure I will have
previously suggested building systems and materials, but I am fairly flexible
in everything else. Also since we are estimating that whatever we do will be
cheaper than concrete and zinc construction, perhaps there is some flexibility
in material use...like a give and take between saving money on one aspect and
"splurging" on another...just as long as the total is less than the current
cost. I don't know if that makes sense, I can try to explain it better if you
are confused.
Here are the answers to the questions you posted on my blog:
1. The schools are for about 300 children grades 1-6. The current system is a
very traditional one: there is a blackboard on one end of the room and long
tables with chairs where all the students sit (from the pictures they look
fairly crammed). One of the new teachers in one of the villages studied
education and she wants to begin experimenting with newer methods of teaching
where students might have more group assignments, interactive problem
solving...etc. This might make us think more about different classroom shapes.
Also an interesting aspect that I have been reading about is lighting,
especially daylighting. For reading, you ideally don't want light to hit the
paper at certain angles that would cause too much reflection: it can be
distracting, harder to read, more strain for eyesight. So how can we perforate
the building so that light comes in at the right angles without letting rain in
and maintaining good ventilation? THERE IS QUITE A BIT OF INTERESTING LITERATURE ON SCHOOL DESIGN, AND THE "GROUP ASSIGNMENTS, INTERACTIVE PROBLEM SOLVING" IS ONE OF THE MORE CURRENT DIRECTIONS OF INTEREST IN THE EDUCATIONAL FIELD. I RECOMMEND THAT YOU DO A BIT OF RESEARCH INTO MODES OF EDUCATIONAL DELIVERY, FOR ELEMENTARY EDUCATION, (CREATE A BIBLIOGRAPHY) WITH THE INTENTION OF EVENTUALLY IDENTIFYING A DEFENDABLE APPROACH THAT YOU WOULD LIKE YOUR WORK TO SUPPORT. AT THE END OF THIS, I HAVE COPIED A LECTURE I GAVE TO FACULTY AT THE LOOMIS CHAFFEE SCHOOL IN CONNECTICUT, A FEW YEARS AGO. IT MAY PROVIDE AN INTRODUCTION AND POINT YOU IN THE DIRECTION OF SOME INTERESTING LITERATURE.
2.The villages are located in the lunsar area of Sierra Leone.
a)The climate varies in two seasons: a wet and a dry season. According to the
averages found in weather underground (wunderground.com), in Sierra Leone the
temperatures stay about the same all year round: high temp. of 86°F and low
of 75°F. Just from looking at monthly precipitation averages I would assume
the dry season is from November to April and the wet season is from May to
October. The rainiest month is August with a precipitation of 31 inches. The
precipitation in the dry season is quite low, less than one inch for the driest
months.
b)I think I am going to research a little bit more about the natural resources,
but one thing we do know is that obviously, we have soil (we just need to know
what its clay content is), we have plenty of timber available and possibly
other materials such as straw and bamboo (in the images of our villages you can
see structures using thatched roofs as well as bamboo).
c)I am thinking of designing an adaptable prototype based on a series of
building-block modules that could be rearranged and adapted depending on the
site's shape, area, and orientation.
d) For sustainability I think we have a good start with the material choices we
are currently considering. Also I want to focus on daylighting design, like I
mentioned above: the cloud cover only seems to be a slight problem during the
wet season. It could be argued that since classes will be conducted during
daytime, there should not be any need for artificial lighting. CAN YOU INVESTIGATE HOW THE CURRENT CONSTRUCTION TECHNIQUES AND DESIGN APPROACHES ARE SHAPED TO WORK WITH THIS SPECIFIC CLIMATE. AND MORE IMPORTANTLY, WHERE ARE THEIR SHORT COMINGS. YOUR WORK SHOULD RESPECT WHAT WORKS AND IMPROVE THAT WHICH DOES LESS WELL. I SUSPECT THAT THE REASONABLE TEMPERATURES ELIMINATE THE NEED FOR HEATING AND AIR CONDITIONING, THAT THE BIGGER PROBLEM IS HOW TO AVOID OVER HEATING, AND PROVIDE NATURAL COOLING, HOW TO SHED WATER AND KEEP THE HABITABLE ENVIRONMENT DRY, AND HOW TO BALANCE LIGHT AND AVOID GLARE. HOW ABOUT BUGS AND SCREENS? HOW ABOUT MOLD AND MILDEW, ROT AND DECAY, EROSION, TERMITES AND OTHER CREATURES... ETC. LOOK FOR PATTERNS OF DESIGN THAT ADDRESS THE LOCAL CLIMATE AND CONDITIONS.
3.
From the images, it looks like people have been building their houses with some
sort of brick (mud?compressed?baked?cinder block?)and earth with thatched
roofs. currently, the schools have been built out of concrete walls (painted
finish) and metal roofs (zinc?). I SUSPECT THAT THEY USED MUD AND THATCH BECAUSE THE MATERIALS ARE AVAILABLE AND INEXPENSIVE. HOWEVER THEY MOVED TO CONCRETE AND ZINC FOR A REASON. PROBABLY FOR LONGEVITY AND THAT THESE MATERIALS ARE MORE SECURE THEN MUD AND THATCH IN A RAINY ENVIRONMENT. MAKE SURE THAT YOUR NEW SYSTEM ADDRESSES THEIR MOTIVATION TO CHANGE FROM THE EARLIER MODEL. ASK LOTS OF QUESTIONS ABOUT THIS ISSUE, SO THAT YOU CAN ANSWER THEM.
4. Construction techniques: above I discussed the possible construction methods.
a)I think the most likely option by the end will be earthen walls with timber
roof. However, earthen walls and metal roofs might also be a possibility since
we are already saving money with the walls. Also, timber and bamboo could be
considered for wall construction.
b) These are all highly sustainable materials that react well to each other:
according to what I have been reading in Minke's book on earth construction,
wood and earth are good because earth will not damage wood when they are in
contact. THIS IS TRUE SO LONG AS THE EARTH STAYS COMPLETELY DRY. IF NOT THE MOISTURE FROM THE EARTH GETTING INTO THE END GRAIN OF WOOD, WILL CAUSE WOOD TO DECAY RATHER RAPIDLY. THAT IS WHY WE TRY TO KEEP UNTREATED WOOD AWAY FROM DIRECT CONTACT WITH CONCRETE. Also, the great thing about these materials is that they would all be
easily obtained at the site, therefore diminishing transportation costs. THIS IS GOOD.
c)This week I have decided to focus on reading about rammed earth. Here are some
general facts about earthen construction in general:
It is great for balancing humidity. However, it can shrink and crack. Good
thermal mass index, for storing heat. AND INSULATING INTERIOR SPACES IN HOT CLIMATES. IT WORKS PARTICULARLY WELL IN THE SOUTH WEST U.S. WHERE IT SHIELDS INTERIORS FROM HEAT IN THE DAY, BUT LETS OFF THE STORED HEAT TO THE INTERIOR AT NIGHT, WHEN THE OUTSIDE TEMPS CAN DROP DRAMATICALLY. Not necessarily water resistant, might
need to use canopies and/or coatings. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. THE RAMMED EARTH WALL OUTSIDE THE MIT SHOP IS DECAYING RAPIDLY FROM EXPOSURE. Rammed earth tends to be monolithic and
quite thick and "heavy"...perhaps this could be good for floors. THIS IS NOT GOOD IN WET CLIMATES. WATER TRACKED IN FROM OUTSIDE CAUSES THE FLOORS TO BECOME MUDDY AND SLIPPERY Also, rammed
earth can be reinforced with bamboo (something to consider). VERY TRUE.
d) I'll get back to you on this one after reading more. Some ideas i have right
now is that timber and thatch roofs are good for roof designs because they can
be easily adapted for those daylighting openings I was talking about. An earth
construction roof might be harder to design for sky lighting. I WOULD SAY THAT, BESIDES YOUR ROOF PROVIDING PROTECTION FROM SUN AND HEAVY RAIN, THAT IT HAVE SERIOUS INSULATION PROPERTIES. THE ONE MAJOR PROBLEM WITH METAL ROOFS IS THAT THEY GET VERY HOT DURING A SUNNY DAY AND THEN RADIATE THAT HEAT TO THE INTERIOR VERY RAPIDLY. THATCH IS PROBABLY MUCH BETTER IN ITS THERMAL PERFORMANCE. ALSO, HOT AIR MUST BE ALLOWED TO ESCAPE HIGH IN THE SPACE SO THAT IT IS NOT TRAPPED HIGH AND ALSO BECOMES A SOURCE OF RADIANT HEAT DURING THE DAY.
5.
Like I mentioned above, I think my ideal design should be something low cost
(not necessarily the lowest), and highly adaptable to other places with similar
resources and needs as Sierra Leone... so that it could be useful and applied to
other places in Africa and even other continents in tropical regions. THAT SOUNDS IDEAL
INTRODUCTION: The Agenda of Classroom Design
I am pleased and honored to be here to discuss with you design issues of learning environments, particularly as they apply to the classroom setting. Not because of my experiences with Phillips-Exeter, Lawrenceville and Celebration, but rather because of the importance of a specific teacher and classroom experience I encountered in my own secondary school education. One that introduced me to the process of taking responsibility for ones own “life long learning”, as well as the importance of the dynamic relationship between the individual and the larger community in that endeavor, but particularly important for today, an early interest in the role of the built environment in the process of education and cultural enrichment. The lessons learned about education from an endearing high school teacher over 30 years ago, have never been forgotten, and continue to influence my architecture, my teaching and even more importantly my interpersonal relationships with family, friends and my local community. So I stand here with great respect and appreciation for the contributions which teachers, like yourselves offer in building within your students, in those important teenage years, the foundations of a responsible understanding of the workings of the world. And I only hope that in this short time I can contribute a few thoughts about the handling of the physical environment that may support you in those endeavors.
As an architect, student and occasional educator, the trip I would like to take you on is this,
1) That the design of the physical setting in a learning environment can have an important effect on the behavior of students, the nature of their involvement and the outcome of their performance.
2) That the classroom is a particularly important component of the educational environment
3) That regardless of academic discipline or personal pedagogy, the key ingredients in a successful teaching environment include, providing for students conditions of security and inclusion, an ability to participate and be involved in the educational process, and the opportunity to incorporate oneself as a responsible member of an educational community
4) That teacher’s have the authority and responsibility to shape the learning environment of the classroom to correspond to these conditions and to their own teaching methodology, pedagogy and goals. And that they can do so through the manipulation of a few key ingredients, and
5) That the classroom environment, in no matter what educational delivery format, can be configured to help incorporate these key conditions of safety, inclusion, involvement and community..
An Illustrative Story: A Classroom that Inspired
A bit more about that secondary classroom to begin the illustration,
Oh, those teenage years are such a rich time of life, when all the senses are vibrant, the world of ideas are starting to become sorted out in a mind that is far more receptive and facile then I find it to be years later, and one is learning about forming bonds between members of a community outside of the home, the complexity, difficulty and ultimately the rewards that the task offers. And teachers play such a central role at this time as potential guides, mentors, collaborators, and life long friends. Not a job for which everyone is well suited.
Certainly for me it was a particular teacher. He had a gentle manner. He also had an intense and serious, yet joyful interest in the ideas of his discipline, what he was teaching seemed to matter to him dearly. But most importantly for me, he was able to make his students feel as though they we were participants in the educational process, not only our own but those of our colleagues, that we had a serious and responsible role to play in this world.
30 years latter he shared with me his guiding principals, saying, “I like the material I teach and I believe that the best way to honor a student is to give them significant challenges for which their success in mastering them is its own reward.”
The most memorable trick he used was to spend most of the class off to the side, to hand one of us the piece of chalk and sent us to the board to be leader, to work with the class as a whole to solve the problem. If I concentrate hard enough I can still recall the feeling of anxiety, countered by the thrill of the challenge, the engagement with my classmates and finally the excitement of unlocking the problem.
So far this is all about the value of the teacher’s vision and skills as the heart of the teaching environment, which no doubt it is.
But lets go back in that high school classroom. Perhaps because of the permission given to act out in the classroom or perhaps because of an early and unconscious interest in methods of learning and environmental design, we turned our attention into how our mentor’s teaching method could be supported by its physical settings, how could we organize a room to foster full participation of the class, strengthen communication between students with one another and their teacher, and offer full immersion for the entire class within the challenge at hand. While modest in scope, and with limited means we attacked the physical organization of the classroom. In summary I’ll try to paint a picture,
SLIDE 1
- First we began in the fortunate condition that there were only 12 to 16 students in the class to begin with, so we didn’t have to work too hard to achieve close proximity of student to one another and to the teacher.
- Secondly, with in a very small room, we removed those god awful loose chairs with fixed writing arms. The ones that are meant to be functional for a lecture format but in the end act as prison chains, holding us from jumping up to solve a problem because of the embarrassing physical manipulation that it takes to do so.
- Thirdly, we carpeted the floor and created a simple set of stackable 18” high, carpeted plywood boxes that could easily be assembled into a small Greek Amphitheater focusing around the black board, that could be pulled apart into a variety of sub areas, or simply be spread out on one level to recreate a totally flat floor environment. Unfortunately, in the most popular amphitheater setting, we were unable to provide the beautiful natural backdrop that one would find at Delphi or other like precedents. But that was really ok, it avoided a near certain potential for distraction.
Well the benefits were instant,
- To some degree it was as informal as sitting on the floor (which as you all recall, was fashionable in the late 60’s and early 70’s), we felt comfortable and relaxed, some of the typical defenses started to melt away, yet because of the seating heights, we were not sitting on the floor, we had back rests, the second row could sit higher then the front row, and one did not need to struggle to get up off a floor or awkwardly climb out of a confining seating apparatus to move to the board,
- The proximity of the students to one another, the fact that in a semicircular arrangement of seating we could so easily face each other as well as focus on the board, made us all belong to a single classroom community. There was focus to the room and yet no corner into which reticent kids might retreat.
- Surrounded by your fellow students at such close range one felt both challenged and supported. Even in the position of leader there was a feeling of being in it together with ones classmates. With no more then 7 to 9 feet between student and the front of the classroom, we were all at the board together all the time.
OK, you have probably already guessed that this was a math seminar room, and with in the delivery format developed by a particular group of teachers, who supported a very coherent pedagogical style and agenda, found that this linkage with physical design worked particularly well. It was appealing to those teachers who subscribed to a similar philosophy, and not to others. For a number of reasons this might not be so appropriate for The Loomis Chaffee School, what with this being an East Coast Preparatory School in 2003, with quite a legacy, and that being a San Francisco Bay Area Public School in the 1960’s and 70’s. But nonetheless, I believe the energy and excitement in that room can find itself in a number of different types of settings provided that certain basic conditions hold…
The issue, of course is not what is the best classroom design for education, but what are the attributes within the learning environment, under which a particular pedagogy can best be supported for student engagement and success.
1) Design of the physical setting in a learning environment: Effect on the behavior of students and the outcome of their performance.
I hope you found the reading I sent you from the publication Education by Design by Strange and Banning, 2001, of interest. While the chapter focused primarily on the physical dimensions of the learning environment, the book attempts to wrap its arms around the broad spectrum of historical research on behavior in educational settings to define the Learning Environment as ultimately a complex interaction of a number of features, that in addition to its physical characteristics, include, the social characteristics of its inhabitants, the vision and rules of the institutional organization directing conduct of its population, and the perceptual reactions that individuals in the educational organization bring to any environment. That these together are determined by the vision and values of a community and in turn draws like-minded members to join. Thus as we consider the physical realm of design, it should be understood as interrelated to these other dimensions that are really not architectural in themselves, but for which physical design should be sensitive and can support.
The physical environment has very specific roles to play.
1) Functional: It provides territory in which activities can take place, whether they are academic, social, residential, athletic, or recreational, its fundamental parameter being size, proportion, life safety, environmental conditioning and lighting. (The necessary but more tedious stuff)
2) Social: It helps to structures relationships between the parties using the territories
a. Encouraging or discouraging connections or engagement
b. Levels of privacy and focus
c. Building or diffusing community
3) Communicates through Symbols, the nature of the institution operating and using the territory
a. Values of institution and Attitudes of Users
§ A level of dignity and respect shown to the student
§ Level of importance of discipline, acquisition of knowledge, respect for community, interest in creative thinking, participation, aspirations.
b. These Cues elicit appropriate emotions, interpretations, behaviors, and transactions by setting up appropriate situations and contexts
§ Seen as more truthful than written. Action speaks louder then words.
§ Just compare the conditions of a typical inner city public school to that of the most well respected independent schools: the articulated goals may be similar but the message that the environment speaks is quite a different and confusing one.
The other dimensions of the Learning Environ can be positively or negatively related to the conditions of the physical environment.
2. Characteristics of People can include;
o Demographics: Gender, Sexual Orientation, Age, Ethnic composition
o Psychological: Personality Types
o Challenge is to structure space and symbols that can recognize identity of each yet draws each together around a common learning agenda
3. Organizational Structures which is related to purpose and goal
o Meet certain goals: educate, house, work, recreation, service
o Who is in charge, how are resources distributed, rules, objectives and schedule, rewards
o Central control vs. Decentralized decision making
o Levels of flexibility and dynamism, or orderly and precise.
o Degrees of Innovation, production, and morale experienced
o All find themselves articulated consciously or not in the physical environment
4. Inhabitant’s collective perceptions or constructions of the context and culture of setting
o Subjective views, experiences and constructions of participants
o Students bring their own baggage
o Finding a congruence between individual needs and perceived image is presumed to be growth producing.
o In the Academic realm one reads from the: curricula, classroom procedures, and expectations set up by characteristics, actions and attitudes of faculty members
o Do activities of faculty, curricula and Instruction speak of
§ Intellectual, Humanistic, Aesthetic values
§ Friendly, Group welfare
§ Independent, Scientific
§ Practical, Status-oriented
Recognizing the existence and interaction of the various dimensions important to understanding how they can be shaped to achieve educational purpose.
How does the design of the environment effect behavior? Theories have evolved over the years,
a. No longer believe in dictatorial nature of architectural determinism, “environmentalism” which suggested that behavior determined by causal and mechanistic relationship to environment
b. Nor do we believe in the more passive model of the “Possibilism” where the environment is a source of opportunities that may set limits but do not restrict
c. Rather, current theory sees the environment as encouraging, or “Probabilistic”: Certain behaviors are probable in relation to environment.
In fact, research has shown from Strange and Banning, that
“Behaviors of children could be predicted more accurately from knowing situation than from knowing individual characteristics of the children: encoded messages in the physical component of the behavioral setting serve to remind participants what behaviors are expected” i.e. ruckus vs. genteel
The design of physical space influences the outcome of the learning making a difference in the lives of students and faculty in an institutional setting. In fact Strange and Banning put it much more strongly,
“Campus design is not a matter of choice: a design already exists. The more important question is whether such designs serve intended purposes…how do they promote student learning or how do they inhibit it? “
2) The Classroom: Important component of the educational environment
No one will argue that the learning environment extends well beyond the classroom. In fact there are no real physical limits as to where an educational experience can happen, in the dorm room, on the athletic field, at the dining hall, in the faculties office, etc… However the classroom remains one of the most important building blocks of the educational institution and important to today’s discussion, the primary place in which the faculty member yields the most authority, responsibility and control.
1) It has a long history as the core of educational delivery. It is where the rubber meets the road (teacher/student interaction)
2) It should be seen as a critical planning module, both in dimension and character, from which a larger department, academic quadrangle, or a campus plan is extended.
3) It’s shape and role is being challenged in the face of changes in philosophies of educational processes, and in the incorporation of new technologies into the educational setting. An understanding of successful classroom environments cannot only increase likely hood of better outcome in education, but it can help guide development of future tools to serve its aim.
If done right the classroom can,
1) Give appropriate focus to the activity at hand
2) Sustain and enhance the energy of the classroom
3) Support appropriate levels of involvement, student/teacher and/or student/student
4) Foster a respect for a particular set of values around education, the individual and community .
If not done right the classroom setting can,
1) Create distraction / Multiple focus
2) Discourage involvement and interest in the subject matter
3) Breed cynicism and apathy toward the vocalized vision and goal of the teacher and/or institution
Our culture and economy is steeped in passive entertainment, and the increase in privacy. All interaction is coming home to a safe, stress free environment and social interaction is suffering. The classroom experience can be an antidote to such malaise.
3) Key ingredients for a successful teaching environment, regardless of discipline or pedagogy:
While the specifics of the teaching agenda varies amongst institutions, teaching disciplines and teachers styles, the requirement of the process is rather standard
1) Process requires
· Acquisition of new information, Lectures/Research
· Access to opportunities for the exercise of new skills, competencies. And ways of thinking and acting. Take on meaningful roles and responsibilities
· This is where one Merges personal identity, values, beliefs, knowledge, skills and interests toward a purposeful endpoint of fulfillment and human actualization
2) Acquiring a new system for making meaning and learning new ways of responding to the world is fundamentally a risky venture
3) There are Conditions thought to be fundamental and seminal by behavioralists and researchers in education for the success of the learning experience,
· Environmental Safety and Inclusion (Tribe 1982)
i. Lack of safety creates distraction from learning
ii. Need freedom to seek education without fear of or actual emotional or physical abuse (including sexual abuse)
iii. Freedom from discrimination: race, color, national origin, gender, or disability
· Structures for Participation and Involvement: Risk taking and challenge (Sanford 1966)
i. “Students who engage themselves as active learners, regardless of setting, show greater gains from the learning experience”
ii. Active Learning: constructing, presenting, defending a point in the presence of peers, leading a group discussion, authoring a paper synthesizing a range of resources.
iii. The quality of education can be measured by the level of student Involvement, high expectations, and a seeking of assessment and feedback.
· Conditions of Community: Were goals, structures, values, people, and resources come together for the purposes of self-actualization and fulfillment
i. Were one experiences of full membership in the learning setting
ii. Carnegie Foundation: “Community is the essential form of reality” and” we know reality only by being in community”
iii. Creates safety for taking risks and trying new behaviors.
iv. Share tasks of leadership
v. Shows that others dependent upon them, concerned about their fate, pride or empathy for their success or failure (Schlossberg, 1989)
vi. “Knowing and learning are communal acts. They require many eyes and ears, many observations and experiences. They require a continual cycle of discussion, disagreement, and consensus over what has been seen and what it means.” (Palmer)
vii. “ Community…is precisely that place where an arena for creative conflict is protected by the compassionate fabric of human caring itself”
viii. Need space in which to exist, create a sense of home, where artifacts of material culture are maintained and the company of members can be enjoyed. Proximity establishes ground from which community agenda can grow.
Goal for the classroom should be the creation, in every manner, of a safe and inclusive environment for the active participation of the student in the engagement of the knowledge being offered, a place for active learning, and a place where the realities of community can be lived and mastered, to the benefit of the development of an effective individual.
4) So how do we Shape the classroom? Corresponding to teaching methodology, pedagogy and goals, through the manipulation of a few key ingredients
In discussions with numerous teachers I have heard that the professional most responsible for the design of the classroom environment is not necessarily architects nor educators, but rather the janitors. At the end of the day when through cleaning up in the classroom, they frequently push the chairs around, often in a nice orderly pattern. The following day, the students return for their classes, and in a half stupor sit where ever the chairs have been placed. While some faculty will reassert a form to suit their teaching style and philosophy, others will respectfully accept the student’s distribution, not even realizing that the students placed no influence on the order. The class goes on with a lack of realization of the negative impact that such distribution causes, the tune out of the disinterested, the inhibition of the timid to raise questions or venture thoughts, passive relationship between student and material, as well as the segregation between teacher and student.
While it is difficult for the individual teacher to affect the larger elements of the environment (location of walls, windows, doors, etc…) one can effect interaction and attitudes of students with arrangement of furnishings and finishes.
Consider these simple components and how they relate to the other dimensions of environment?
1) The most basic issues are those of comfort
a. Temperature, air quality, and lighting appear to have an effect on attention, and focus.
b. Allowing problems to remain unattended can have serious effects
2) Size and Proportion
· Are there the right number of students for the space
· Is it too crowded to comfortably do the work
· Can everyone feel included in the action?
· Do the proportions support the task? Too few in too big, can create a sense of not belonging. Not rooted, a lack of focus. A diffusion of energy
· Too low and tight, cause a desire to move on, escape.
· If not perhaps other rooms should be selected.
3) Physical Relationship between student and teacher, between student and student
· It starts with the mind/body relationship, particularly sensitive with teenagers
ix. Insecurity about body
x. Fear of involvement
xi. Desire to blend in
xii. How we feel about our body says a good deal about how we feel about ourselves.
xiii. How open, how protected: The podium vs. the stage, the table vs. out in the open
xiv. Are we in the center or outside?
· The distances between students and teachers. How close, how far?
i. Too close and too intimate, or too far and too formal.
ii. Is the distance right for a conversation or dignified presentation
· Orientation of seating and furniture arrangement can greatly affect what can be accomplished.
i. Certainly different academic disciplines require specific modes of organization
ii. The seating arrangement for lectures, discussion groups, laboratory or studio projects, a theatre rehearsal hall, or for focused private study are all quite different from one another
iii. However, in each of these modes, the specific way in which the desk/seating is configured, including the teacher’s position, will not only describe the organizational structure of the class but will affect the outcome of the teaching venture. As I will share later in more detail,
1. Defines responsibility of Students and Faculty, identifying who is to assume leadership?
2. Who is in charge: creation of syllabus
3. Who is encouraged to participate?
4. What level of involvement is encouraged? Do students have an ability to contribute to the class, to the community? Information acquisition? Social success and community building? hands on learning?
5. Does it assist in establishing central control or does it encourage complexity?
6. The answers to these questions are very important, for the degree to which students feel as though they are active participants. And the degree to which they are participants in the classroom equates to the level of Morale.
4) Classroom Management
· Many types attend and each may interact in their own way,
· Some of the differences are dependent upon Level of association with institution and ideas: The Academic, Nonconformist, Preppy, or Vocational
· Meyer-Briggs: Identified nature of personality types: Introvert/Extrovert, Sensing/Intuition, Judgment/Perception
· Not uncommon for types to place themselves in particular locations in the classroom that suits there comfort zone.
· Cliques or members of distinct groups can congregate and/or isolate themselves in relation to the class
· In Row-Column arrangements students choice of seat reflects self esteem and interest in learning
· This spatial arrangement of various types of learners can influence communication patterns: relative status of group members, and emergence of a leader, feelings of affiliation or solidarity
· Teacher can manage interaction: Place leaders at the head, shy across from the leader, contrarians to the side of the leader, etc…
· In a Project Based arrangement, different personalities function better in different conditions of concentration and focus, thus one should provide spatial conditions for privacy as well as for large and small group work
5) Furniture type (chair, rugs, etc…)
· Classroom furnishings are most salient, adaptive and responsive.
· They either provide flexibility or encumbrances to movement
i. The flexibility required for small group discussions are hard if chairs bolted to the floor or if limited space restricts movement of furniture.
ii. Student movement to the chalk board is discouraged by seats with arms, or having to get up from the floor
iii. Rolling Chairs at Desks offer the greatest flexibility.
· Movable storage units, bookshelves and/or chalk boards offer opportunities to build multiple levels of privacy and territoriality within the larger space.
iv. Alcoves for individuals to retreat into private work
v. Reduction in distractions between multiple work groups
· Nature of furnishings speaks of character of activity
vi. Home like vs. more dignified vs. rough working environment
vii. Stools and lab tables and vs. Straight back chair and desk
6) Presentation format
· Chalk Board
i. Ease of accessibility
ii. Multiple vs. Singular encouraging easy dialogue
iii. Movable to create spaces
· Computer and AV
i. Visibility, Legibility
ii. Levels of interactivity, an evolving technology
7) Access to Information: A remote library.
· Availability and location of resources
· Books, Posters, Equipment
· Does location of equipment support independent and/or group activities
· Is Technology adaptable: i.e. wireless?
8) Ability to focus
a. Noise and acoustics
b. Light and glare
c. Distracting activity
9) Level of Flexibility
· Multiple Users of a classroom, Dynamic vs. Static environments
i. Responsiveness to multiple users of a single classroom,
ii. Responsive to change and innovation in curriculum and method
iii. To be more responsive to students individual learning needs,
iv. To encourage innovation, and engage students as meaningful participants within the boundaries of various scales of human design
v. Developing multiple modes of communication and interaction with the material.
b. Must be easy to operate and fail-safe
i. The most complicated is often is unused
ii. Best that it is built in rather then movable.
iii. Characterless and complete flexibility serves no one purpose well.
iv. Options rather then movable walls.
10) Iconography in support of values
a. The artifacts (behavioral traces) incorporated in the room give direction, warn or to inspire the users of the classroom?
i. Sends message about classroom culture
ii. Furnishing configuration and material signs might emphasize academically challenging work, interdisciplinary teams, personalized relationships with faculty, whole learning, Leadership opportunities beyond the classroom, and or a need to serve others
iii. Students seek places of person-environment congruence, where they see their own values in the environment: Birds of a feather flock together
§ What signs speak to Students of Loomis Chaffee concerning Security, Reassurance and Identity
§ Differentiated places become places of identity for group, allows ownership by a group.
· Is image of the classroom the home of the institution, the department, the faculty member, the student, or is it neutral.
· Are traces of each present on the walls, floors and ceilings
iv. A place of inspiration, order, or intensive working environment
· Book lined walls, or equipment-laden desks, an ampleness of resources speaks of the classroom as a repository of knowledge:
· Connectivity to the electronic global village, the department, the larger institution, and the natural world close at hand, demonstrate each as integral to the foundation of knowledge.
· Décor suggests expectations of behavior- such as dignified, functional or rowdy.
· Quality of maintenance in the face of vandalism, graffiti and trash establishes level of trust and security.
· Adapting furniture for something other then its intent: frustration suggests lack of respect given to task at hand.
5) Now of all of the above, the most fascinating is the value of the classroom configuration.
A perusal through the Loomis Chaffee catalogue shows that Teaching and Learning in the academic arena happens in a number of formats
“…to listen actively, to take notes, to formulate questions. Through discussions, question and answer sessions, group projects, laboratory investigations and class presentations, students engage in intellectual dialogue.”
Over the last century classroom models have emerged to accommodate each. However for each to be successful they need to be sensitively refined to incorporate the conditions of safety, inclusion, participation and community. An understanding of the refinements of each model can offer a pallet of options for teachers to employ as felt needed to teach the particular skills.
The Lecture Model: Origin in the notion of the Empty Learner
- Turn of the century
- Industrial Model: Efficient form for educating large numbers of students
- Chairs bolted to the floor in straight rows
- Teachers desk in front and center
- Students have personal territory
- Rectangle was simplest form and layout for rooms
- Light and ventilation and ease of egress for 30 students
- Rooted in a Pedagogical philosophy
o Teachers gaining of students attention and maintaining discipline was primary
o Student was cognitively an empty organism
o Respond to stimuli, through operation of rewards and punishments
o Would not learn unless compelled to do so
o What was learned was dependent on the Teacher
- Organization of room to place teacher at center and discourage students from interacting with one another
- Sensible and practical: Get through material most quickly and efficiently.
- Powerful model that still holds sway, particularly in the lecture format.
- How can it be adapted for today?
o Student population low: Inclusion and Safety
o Round rather then straight rows or square: Student/Student engagement, faculty immersion. Emphasize community.
o Loose tables and chairs: Offer ease of movement and flexibility
o Proximity of teacher to students: Gather around, Immersion and involvement
o Incorporation of Technology: Brings broader range of material into room, Greater immersion due to size
The Seminar Model: Origin the notion of the Social Learner
- As early as the 1930’s, but most popular in 1950’s
- Student was seen as a social organism
- Social psychology and group dynamics
- Learning perceived as occurring through interpersonal actions and reactions
- Each as a stimulus for the other
- Movable trapezoidal tables that can link into a circle of a modest number of students.
- Teachers desk has disappeared, and the teacher has joined the table
- Perhaps the best example: The Harkness Table at Phillips Exeter
o Edward Harkness to Lewis Perry in 1930
o “What I have in mind is (a classroom) where student’s could sit around a table with a teacher who would talk with them and instruct them by sort of tutorial or conference method, where (each student) would feel encouraged to speak up. This would be a real revolution in methods.”
o “Committed to an ideal of active, participatory, student centered learning which values teaching students not just a given course’s content but the skills required to become their own and each other’s teachers. Learning is a cooperative enterprise in which students and teachers work together as partners.”
o Success dependent “… on the quality of each student’s preparation”
o Place at table requires students to engage eagerly and energetically with both peers and instructors.
o So successful in the humanities, that a recently designed science building included the H Table within the science lab. Students return to discuss together the results of their experiments.
- High degree of inclusion, involvement and community building
- Risk laden, but at a scale that offers some level of security.
o No corners into which students can fade
o Everyone is in the front row
o Lack of preparation is evident
o Everyone can assume leadership role at one time or another
- Concern
o Discussion centered, difficult in lecture mode
o Students determine much of content and pace
o Requires student preparedness and knowledge
- Flexibility can help
o Either table is one of a number of pieces of the environment
o Or the table can pull apart and be reshaped into amphitheater mode.
Project Based Learning: Origin in the notion of a Stimulus-Seeking Learner
- Began to emerge in the 1970’s, the Open Classroom
- Student as stimulus seeking
o The organism is driven to learn (thinking, problem solving, and other forms of intellectual activity), not just as a reduction of tensions but as an end in itself.
o Desire for effective interaction with the environment, as manifested in the child’s curiosity and exploratory activity.
o Drive for arts, pure science and adventure contributes to well being
o People cannot cope being paid to do nothing
o Learner perpetually in motion
o Problem finding and stimulus seeking organism
o Authentic Learning is both Active and Collaborative
- Example: Problem Based Learning
o Teacher defines and offers problems, Students work in small groups to solve “real-world problems” through research and analysis of materials accessed.
o Problems are the central focus of instruction”
o Faculty and tutors serve as facilitator
o Increased faculty work load
- Classroom organized to extend the range of possibilities.
o High degree of flexibility
o Many Social Centers,
o Movable trapezoidal tables that configure into circles of various sizes.
o Office swivel chairs with wheels
o Room filled with materials to work with and explore.
o Infusion of technology, uses students familiarity with new technologies
o Access to information via wireless laptop computers keeps flexibility of classroom.
o Audio visual equipment for ease of presentation and communication
o May extend to movable walls in the classroom to model environments
§ UNC Business school modeled environment of high tech companies, simulate the stock exchange…
- Concerns
o Distraction and loss of focus
o Requires self motivation and self discipline of students
o Teacher needs to circulate often to stay in touch and keep students on track
- Move towards active/service learning in the university setting.
- Coupled with an infusion of technology (Simulation programs, Internet and Tele-conferencing, etc…)
- Began in medical schools, moved to science, now social science and humanities
- Active Learning increases student participation
- Improved performance
Long Distance Learning: Origin in use of Computer-Mediated Communications in the Learning Environment
A recent Boston Globe article about Brown University Medical School distance learning curriculum in conjunction with a collective of 38 international universities
- Part of a growing trend. (Law, art, now medicine)
- The virtual classroom (learning communities): Based on use of computer for communication and access to information through the internet, email group conferencing, interactive communication and simulation technologies:
- Used in and out of the classroom are extraordinary,
b. Mentoring and Advising
c. Project Base Instruction within the class or involving distance
d. Guest lecturing
e. Didactic teaching liberated from specific space
f. Retrieval of information
g. Course management
h. Public conferencing
i. Interactive chat: brainstorming with teachers or peers
j. Personal networking and professional growth
k. Individual and group presentations
l. Peer review of writing and projects
m. Practice and experience with emerging technologies
n. Computer-based instruction: sophisticated modeling programs
- Replace lecture text book (too dehumanizing)
- Touting increased access, working or international students
- Emphasis on problem solving, interactive learning (experience of cause and effect
- Benefits
o. Breaks down hierarchical barriers
p. People join in more readily then in face to face
q. Potential to liberate instruction from constraints of time and distance.
r. Ultimate function is to bring people together? Email, bulletin boards, conferencing.
s. A Virtual Community around an Electronic water cooler
· Safety
i. Safer access without leaving home
ii. Masking identity: Women hiding gender
· Inclusion and Community
iii. Cost and lack of skill creates exclusion
iv. Serves introverts better (allows them form of communication) then extroverts (too impatient)
v. Further democratization of communities: group of all learners
vi. Prejudices left behind, judgment on content of words
- Concerns
o “Can do just about anything on line, but leave our bodies behind”
o Trust, cooperation, friendship, and community are based on contacts in the sensual world, communicate through networks but you don’t live in them” How to bring face-to-face back to communication.
o Engender addiction
o Engender individuals who are non social in the traditional face to face
o “Cocooning: insulation and avoidance, peace and protection, coziness and control. Bunker like.” (Popcorn)
o “Amusing ourselves to death”
- The skeptic in me sees an interest growing out of financial incentives
- Attractive to administrators and investors
- Reduce overhead costs, both for buildings and staff
- How tempting to develop and sell a curriculum with in a mass market
- Is this an effective educational environment by itself?
- Is interaction via e-mail and chat rooms adequate to develop a fully educated individual?
- Where do students learn develop skills around human interaction ( clinical skills, “the wonder of holding someone’s brain in your hands made me think about my role as a doctor in a different way”
- The ideal is for this new technology to be absorbed carefully within the classroom environment, rather then replacing the classroom.
· The potentials for Virtual learning communities are unlimited
t. Should be used in combination with face-to-face interaction so each enriches the sense of true and full community involvement..
- Goal: Promote and maintain community in both of its forms, virtual and face-to-face. Synergy between the two promises much toward improving the effectiveness of learning environment.
And if large sums of money are being channeled in the direction of development of high technology support of educational delivery, how can the lessons we learn about the real classroom, be offered to guide the development of the high tech tools? So that these tools help the educator, rather than distracting from your mission.
6) Conclusion: As Education is faced with new developments in school design and educational technology, the successful experiences in the classroom should be central in its guiding principals. That innovation should serve the purpose of the values of the institution, discipline, and individual teaching style.
With the complex expectations and challenges placed on educational institutions and the rapid development of new technologies, now more than ever we need to examine the influence of the design of environment on the outcome of student behavior and success in their meeting the challenge and mission of the educational institution.
The teaching environment of Socrates was a bit simpler then that which even Loomis Chaffee is face with, however the real life challenges that his educational ideas posed, made education a life or death affair. Can the contemporary teaching environment offer even a fraction of the intimacy and immediacy of a gathering of Greek students and teacher engaging in earnest inquiry under the shade of an old olive tree? How can we learn from the successful patterns of learning of the past and influence the development of the tools of the future so that the learning happens at its greatest capacity.
The trends in educational research and innovation, particularly in behavioral studies and technology, asks us to look more carefully at the value and role of the traditional educational environment of the classroom and how it can best be shaped to most fully and successfully educate the leaders of the future. How the lessons learned about the influence that environment has on behavior can keep educational standards high and inform the direction of development of facility and technology development?
I can only hope that after this discussion, you see your classroom as a laboratory for spatial experiments, the results of which will inform the guidance you contribute to the larger discussions about the campus environment.
“Classrooms we build for our children are not only places where the lessons intended by the teacher are taught. These classrooms teach lessons of their own; they tell the child who he is supposed to be (or at least who we thing he is) and how he is supposed to learn…our habits impel our habitations and the habitations impel our lives.” J.W. Getzels
ALAN JOSLIN AIA
Principal
E P S T E I N J O S L I N A r c h i t e c t s
12 Arrow Street, Cambridge, MA 02138
t. 617-868-1766
c. 617-306-6943
f. 617-661-1148
http:/www.epsteinjoslin.com
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