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 goals were...
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...
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...
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...
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...
Tomorrow’s work environments will likely bear little resemblance to the office spaces of yesterday and today. Open floor plans, co-op workspaces, and remote work are becoming the norm, and more employees are leaving the corporate world to freelance. The rise of the...
Creating change at the school district level is hard. Systemic changes need to be implemented. Educational programs and teaching and learning focus needs to be shifted. Culture needs to be created and supported. These efforts require careful coordination...
At Natural Pod, we are deeply committed to creating better, sustainable education environments. Our goal is always to honor this by producing healthy, natural, and beautiful play and learning space furniture using environmentally responsible practices and...
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...
Odyssey Charter Schools opened their second charter school, OCS-South, in Pasadena, California, last year. Their community presently includes transitional kindergarten through to 4th grade, with the goal of adding an additional grade each year until they...
“We should be focusing on the youngest amongst us” was a statement a friend and experienced educational building architect said to me recently, and it really stuck with me. We were discussing the importance of early learning through the lens of the learning...
For students to thrive now and in their future they need to learn how to become adaptable lifelong learners. Their future will most likely entail having multiple jobs or careers, not one employment stream for life and we need to prepare them for that. In fact they may...
Across diverse contexts, I regularly meet students who are taking action to build a more sustainable future. Whether it’s first-graders designing a rain garden for their playground, middle schoolers educating adults about composting, or high school students advocating...
There’s been a lot of emphasis about creating student centered learning environments for a while now. Here we’re taking a deeper dive into how these environments are the gateway to student-led learning, why that's important, what the intended goals are,...
With all the global climate strikes that have been happening over the last few weeks, it feels like the perfect time to speak up about a sensitive and related issue. First, I’d like to acknowledge the incredible mobilization of nearly 7 million young people and...
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...
In education we talk a lot about 21st Century learning, and this term is linked to acknowledging we are now in a new era, ‘the Innovation Age’. It seems to be generally accepted that we are now moving on from the Information Age that's governed the last 40...