Very little about the American classroom has changed since Laura Ingalls sat in one more than a century ago. In her school, children sat in a rectangular room at rows of desks, a teacher up front. At most American schools, they still do.

Slate magazine's got a contest going on until the end of October. It is asking people to describe or design the ideal fifth-grade classroom for today, This article describes the contest and spends some time critizing the failure to markedly change classroom design.

Education has changed even if the room has not, and if you go into most schools, you are likely to see teachers and students chafing against the rectangle. The 21st-century imperative is to closely monitor students’ individual progress and teach them accordingly. Teachers are supposed to work together to analyze data and coordinate their approaches. Most classes include at least some traditional instruction: one teacher up front, addressing 20 or 30 students. But it is also common for students to work on projects in small groups, for aides to conduct "interventions" with a few kids around a table, and for teachers to assess children one at a time. Where the space has not been modified accordingly--which is to say, most everywhere--you see lots of kids sprawling on cold tile floors and huddling in converted closets. Why haven’t schools evolved the way museums and playgrounds and supermarkets have? 

Don't miss out on joining nearly 1,500 of your colleagues and peers at higher education's premier planning event of 2010, SCUP–45. The Society for College and University Planning's 45th annual, international conference and idea marketplace is July 10–14 in Minneapolis!

Here's your SCUP Link to the initial source for 'Screened' Out: Display Screens as Functional or Aesthetic Design Elements.

Sometime back in the 1990s, I made a case for screens—video monitors, computer displays—as the architectural ornament of our time. As Notre Dame has gargoyles, we have our screen-size talking heads. For this, I apologize. I’ve now decided that it’s time for the age of the ubiquitous screen to be over. 

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My evidence for this is thin; screens big and small are still proliferating. But I’ve had a series of conversations with interior designers about what the future might look like, and most of them downplayed technology’s role in their aesthetic. Words like authentic and homelike have replaced wired or smart. And I take it as a good sign that in New York, the gathering places for a new generation of digital entrepreneurs are self-consciously creaky: the new Breslin at the Ace Hotel, the old NoHo hangout Tom & Jerry’s, “a place so low tech you can’t even run up a credit card tab,” as Susan Dominus writes in the New York Times. 

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Oddly, it was a recent visit to MIT that suggested that this might be more than wishful thinking on my part, that perhaps the technological project we embarked on in 1990s, the relocation of all our transactions and interactions to screens, is pretty much over. 

 

Mardelle Shepley, DArch, director of the Center for Health Systems & Design at Texas A&M University, describes her adventures moving from the academic setting to an architectural practice for several months, and what the experience taught her about the information needs of practicing architects wanting to pursue evidence-based design.

1. Green Design Institute [pdf]
http://gdi.ce.cmu.edu/

The Green Design Institute is a "major interdisciplinary education and
research effort to make an impact on environmental quality through green
design." The primary goal of the Institute is to form partnerships with
industry, government, and other foundations in order to develop processes
that "can improve environmental quality and product quality while enhancing
economic development." Located at Carnegie Mellon, the Institute involves
faculty, students, and other partners in their efforts to develop practical
pollution prevention technologies and lower costs by recycling scarce
resources, using fewer raw materials, and creating better products. Visitors
to the site may wish to begin by reading the "About Us" section to learn a
bit more about the Institute. After getting acquainted with the goals of the
Institute, visitors to should visit the "Research" section to learn a bit
about on-going projects on sustainable infrastructure, energy and
environment, life cycle assessment, and environment. Perhaps the most useful
section of the site can be found by clicking on "Education". Here, a link to
eiolca.net can be found, which is economic input-output life cycle
assessment software. The model allows users to estimate the overall
environmental impacts of producing commodities or services in the United
States. In addition, courses and course materials on environmental issues
are available here. [KMG]

"Space, whether physical or virtual, can have a significant impact on learning. Learning Spaces focuses on how learner expectations influence such spaces, the principles and activities that facilitate learning, and the role of technology from the perspective of those who create learning environments: faculty, learning technologists, librarians, and administrators. Information technology has brought unique capabilities to learning spaces, whether stimulating greater interaction through the use of collaborative tools, videoconferencing with international experts, or opening virtual worlds for exploration. This e-book represents an ongoing exploration as we bring together space, technology, and pedagogy to ensure learner success.

Please note: In addition to the e-book's core chapters on learning space design principles (chapters 1–13) , this site also offers case studies illustrating those principles (chapters 15–43), including links to examples of innovative learning spaces. The entire collection is complete and available for printing as individual chapters or the entire book. The printed book is available through Amazon.com."