Schools And Kindergartens: A Design Manual - Mark Dudek, Dorothea Baumann The Third Teacher Notes Check out the NEW site: ClassroomCribs AND see How-To Set Up Brain-Friendly, Beautiful Learning Spaces! Free Classroom Design Webinar: I would love for you to join me on Tuesday, July 29th at 3pm ET for a free webinar all on setting up your classroom learning space. Prior to going into teaching, I studied Interior Design. Paying close attention to how we set up our spaces is very important. We must take into account the children when determining so many components that go into designing our spaces. You're invited to sign up for free and attend this webinar. Check Out the NEW Site Classroom Cribs: How to get signed up? Today is the preview of the ClassroomCribs site. In order to get the latest, we'd love for you to simply go to ClassroomCribs.com and click on the orange box ("Learn More About Classroom Design"). We also hope you scroll down and browse the page. Our hope is to encourage teachers to design with intention. Summer Learning Series: My best friend, Todd Nesloney, will start this year as a new principal.
Inventing Kindergarten: Norman Brosterman: 9780810935266: Amazon.com Creating Playgrounds Kids Love By Vicki L. Stoecklin, M.Ed © 2000 White Hutchinson Leisure & Learning Group How to Select a Designer Unlike traditional playgrounds, where one slab of asphalt is pretty much the same as the next, discovery play gardens take specialized knowledge to design. Designers of discovery play gardens need a broad knowledge base and experience in several disciplines. The people involved in designing traditional playgrounds may not be the best for designing discovery play gardens. Good design, however, is vital. If anyone knows about giving kids what they really want, it's Head Start. When adults are outdoors, they admire a healthy lawn and a nicely tended vegetable garden and beds of beautiful flowers. Getting Beyond Traditional Design Most of today's adults spent recess on playgrounds that were covered with asphalt and studded with play equipment like swings, jungle gyms and slides that built their gross motor skills. Childhood of Imprisonment Nurturing a love of nature What nature gives to children
Give Your Space the Right Design Feng shui principles transform a classroom. When Nic Taylor returned to his classroom at Bancroft Middle School, in San Leandro, California, after a two-year leave, he immediately felt his spirits sag. The room was long, narrow, and white, with doors at either end. With no windows, and just a few skylights exposing gray skies, "it felt so sterile," recalls Taylor, "not like a creative space." He made an emergency call to Deborah Gee, a Bay Area feng shui consultant, who quickly confirmed Taylor's suspicions: His classroom was suffering from a case of very bad chi. Feng shui is the art of designing for good chi. Over the remaining few days before school started, a transformation took place in Taylor's classroom: A friend painted the walls bright green and blue, and Gee put his desk in the far corner, situated toward the door, and students' desks in a semicircle facing the whiteboard. Breathe Deeply: New wall colors of blue and green have a calming effect and inspire creativity.
Discovery Play Garden Power of Aesthetics to Improve Student Leraning Power of Aesthetics to Improve Student Learning View From Denmark: Re-Imagining Spaces of Learning by Ulla Kjærvang Uninspiring and misplaced rooms are the reality on many schools and educational institutions in Denmark. Because of an increasing number of pupils and changed requirements of the future educational class rooms, a lot of schools and educational institutions will be built and re-constructed in the coming years and this will cost billions. Appealing to the Whole of Human Life The conception of aesthetic is not only about looking in a specific way but it is also about how the building appeals to senses of the body and our emotional life. This aesthetic also includes the demand of sustainability and a good indoor climate. Investigations show: That pupils with plenty of daylight in the class room learn up to 21 percent more than pupils with less daylight. Buildings Influence Our Ability to Learn But how do we get more aesthetic into the future schools and educational institutions?
Why do we emotionally like to be in some places? Design Guidelines, Brain-Based Learning Research 12 Design Principles Based on Brain-based Learning Research By Jeffery A. Lackney, Ph.D. Based on a workshop facilitated by Randall Fielding, AIA Rich-simulating environments – color, texture, “teaching architecture”, displays created by students (not teacher) so students have connection and ownership of the product. This list is not intended to be comprehensive in any way. A second caveat to presenting these design principles for brain-compatible learning environments concerns the need to use as many of these principles in combination in the design of a school building as possible. Workshop Summary Narrative: The objectives of the brain-based workshop track of the CEFPI Midwest Regional Conference were to: (a) understand the latest developments and findings from brain research; (b) discuss how these findings may educational curriculum and instruction for learning; and (c) explore what the implications these findings may have on school design. July 16th, 2006