Our very own Michelle Carpenter, Chief Strategy Officer of Natural Pod, is A4LE SchoolsNEXT Southeast Chair, National Co-Chair, and committed to the future of the SchoolsNEXT student design competition. Last year she documented her participation experience in the...
Almost every aspect of life has changed over the last few months, and education has really been turned on its head. There are many ways to approach how we navigate these times, but the one myself and many others are advocating for, is to look for the opportunities and...
Today, June 8th, is World Oceans Day – As the challenges to the ocean continue to grow, so does the need for novel solutions and the people driving them. To that end, the theme of UN World Oceans Day 2020 is ‘Innovation for a Sustainable Ocean.’...
Thank you so much to all who took part in this CreateSpace classroom giveaway! We really appreciate the time and energy that went into all the amazing entries and you sharing with us some of the challenges you are facing, what you are looking for, and which furniture...
This week we’d like to introduce James Edward Mills, explain how and why he’s such an education hero, and give a few great reasons to join him and the panel discussing ‘Sustainability & Social Justice in K-12 Schools’ at SXSW EXU.James’s career spans over 20 years...
Our design team and account managers are spreading their wings over the next week as they attend and present at two very different education and thought leadership conferences.First stop is the EdSpaces conference, held this year in Milwaukee, WI. This is one of the...
I first fell in love with biomimicry while attending a county-wide science leadership meeting in February 2017. I was there in my capacity as science department chair at Oak Park High School in California’s Oak Park Unified School District. It was toward the end of...
This brief essay isn’t intended to reiterate the long history of design thinking as best expressed by the brilliant David Kelley, founder of IDEO and the Stanford d.school, as there are numerous resources readily available for educators. Instead, it’s meant to...
A ‘Green New Deal’ (GND) has been proposed in the US by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Senator Edward Markey. It has many facets, but one of the main aims of the proposal would be to achieve net-zero greenhouse emissions by creating millions of green jobs and investing...
You may have heard the term ‘Green Ribbon Schools’. The Green Ribbon Schools prestigious awards program was created by the U.S. Department of Education in 2011 with the aim of recognizing select K–12 schools, K–12 districts and postsecondary institutions for a deep...
Researchers intentionally set out to discover whether classroom displays affected children’s ability to maintain focus during instruction and to learn the lesson content. “Young children spend a lot of time — usually the whole day — in the same classroom, and through...
When educators were asked how intentionally planned school construction or renovation projects were evaluated, the largest percentage groups of note, at 30%, said they were evaluated most often for whether they attracted more students. An additional 30% of teachers...
‘Intentional design’ means taking into consideration how students learn when designing learning environments to enable their success. The following research looks at whether there should be learning goals associated with planned projects; if pedagogical...
Teachers who work in schools where recent construction or renovations were completed were asked to grade the outcome of the changes through various focus areas: the impact on school culture, student retention, student engagement, staff relationships, classroom...
For a classroom to foster 21st-century learning styles, it needs a 21st-century classroom design with multi-purpose spaces and connected learning areas that support movement, student choice, and a collaborative environment. Educators were asked to rank the importance...
Recent research has been examining the connection between learning environments and learning outcomes: A team consisting of a pioneering designer, a design educator, and a researcher have worked to ‘prove’ that the design of learning places matter. Mounting...
Research surrounding how we interact with the spaces we spend time in is not a new concept. In recent years, studies have shown that the work environment can impact certain factors like stress levels. Similar studies are beginning to examine educational environments,...
EDspaces is the conference advancing the conversation about the future of learning environments. It is where innovations are unveiled and collaborations form, bringing together education’s creative change agents who plan, design and manage innovative learning...
Educators face a daunting task—preparing the next generation with the knowledge, skills, and attitudes necessary to work toward a more sustainable way of life. The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), a collection of seventeen global goals set by the United Nations...
Teachers give us so much. A boost of confidence when we really need one. Extra help when we’re having trouble. A welcoming presence when everything else seems out of control. And though we know we can’t ever thank them enough, we can take a moment during National...
Sprig, the last classroom table you’ll ever need
