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Planning a STEM Facility Despite the Big Unknowns

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Planning a STEM Facility Despite the Big Unknowns

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The demand for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education is rising at an exceptional rate. According to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, more than three million job openings in STEM related fields will be created by 2018 that will require a bachelor's degree or higher. At our current rate, the United States fall short of those needs by more than a million workers (National Science Foundation).

As a result, schools are multiplying their STEM opportunities for students and training teachers to deliver STEM education-and also building and remodeling schools in support of new and emerging STEM programs. The challenge for planners, architects, and educators is that STEM education curriculum and learning activities are constantly evolving; how can we harness this moving target to inform our planning and design process? This blog series will explore that concern, as well as offer insight for those who know exactly what they want to do in their spaces. In this article, we'll start off with the big picture and overarching themes influencing the design of STEM facilities, the challenges, and show two STEM lab solutions designed for Fremont Academy of Engineering and Design and Clearwater Elementary School.

Putting the cart before the horse
To be effective, a new STEM facility must respond to a variety of learning activities, ever changing technology, and the reality of having to make very detailed, specific, and often expensive design and construction decisions before a STEM curriculum is established or a teacher hired. In a perfect world, the STEM teachers would be identified, the curriculum set, and this would heavily influence the design process and outcome of the new STEM facility. Unfortunately, a new STEM facility is often designed with a well-intentioned design committee that may be lacking practical STEM learning knowledge critical to the design of a new STEM facility. This is especially true with new facilities. For programs that are remodeling existing buildings, it is more common to have the STEM teachers who will be teaching in the space actively involved with planning, design, and furniture and equipment selection.

Clean or dirty lab
There certainly are some commonalities and recurring themes that can help architects customize the facility for anticipated uses even before the STEM curriculum is established. One significant STEM facility differentiator is whether a facility will be more of a makerspace (wet or dirty lab) or one that is more computer-based (clean lab), or some combination of the two. For a dirty lab, imagine an advanced level robotics lab where students are making robots from scratch. This dirty lab might involve welding and cutting of metal, wood, and plastics-something along the lines of a traditional metal and wood shop with the addition of computers. For a clean lab, picture an animation or coding class that is computer-based for creating digital projects and content. A great example of a dirty lab is the Design Kitchen at Rice University. A representative clean lab is the idea lab at Stanford's d. school which supports collaboration and design thinking in creative and highly flexible spaces.

Here at HMC, we recently designed a dirty lab for the highly successful engineering program at the Fremont Academy of Engineering and Design in Pomona, Calif. This is a 7-12 grade program based on Project Lead the Way curriculum that provides engineering specific classes as well as integrated curriculum in core courses such as English and math that build relevance to the engineering focus.

This dirty lab is part of a newly constructed building located on Fremont's existing campus. It has concrete floors, a high ceiling with overhead power and compressed air, and high clerestory windows that bring in natural light while preserving some wall space for display, perimeter storage, and equipment stations. Large maple-top tables are moveable and contain storage underneath. All student seating has wheels for added flexibility and mobility. Lab equipment includes 3-D printers, a drill press, panel saw, and a CNC milling machine. Deep stainless steel sinks provide access to water.

The adjacent project storage room has large student lockers, shelving, and open floor space to store a variety of projects and material. Double doors provide outdoor access for delivery of materials, projects, and equipment.

The design lab is located on the other side of the storage room and has perimeter storage and moveable furniture for collaboration, presentation, and a variety of computer- and project-based activities.

Open campus resource or dedicated class
Another important design differentiator is whether or not the STEM lab will be an open campus resource accessed by all students on campus or if the lab will have a dedicated teacher and classes that use the lab daily as their regular classroom. This issue is important because the approach to storage, equipment, and instructor resources could be very different between the two uses. The learning activities will vary for an open campus lab with hundreds of students passing through it monthly versus a dedicated lab for fewer teachers and students.

At Clearwater Elementary School in Perris, Calif., the new Flex Lab that HMC designed is both a clean and resource-type STEM lab. The Flex Lab is located at the center of the school and is intended to be a resource shared by all teachers and students. One wall opens to an outdoor classroom complete with bench seating, a sink, and power receptacles. The opposite wall has multi-media capabilities for presentations. An adjacent group study room offers additional space for student collaboration and project activities while two different areas at the perimeter of the lab contain four sinks for easy student access to water and cleanup. The room is open and spacious for easy reconfiguration of student furniture. While some storage space is provided, it is minimized in favor of greater flexibility of classroom activities and with the understanding that home classrooms offer more storage for materials and student projects.

Although this a clean lab with perimeter power outlets to support computer and technology-based activities, its breakout room, sinks, and adjacency to the outdoor classroom provides enough flexibility that many hands-on project-based activities can be easily accommodated.

In future articles, we'll take a closer look the learning activities that are happening in STEM labs and provide more tips on how to best plan for an ever evolving STEM curriculum.

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Planning a STEM Facility Despite the Big Unknowns | Pre-K-12 Education, STEM Education, Thought Leadership | HMC Architects

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The demand for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) education is rising at an exceptional rate. According to the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce, more than three million job openings in STEM related fields will be created by 2018 that will require a bachelor's degree or higher.

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Very nice design features. Check out the ceiling fans in the cafegymnatorium.

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With California facing one of the most severe droughts on record, it was only natural that water conservation became a concentration for the design of Clearwater Elementary School in Perris, CA. Our team pulled out all the stops-bioswales, bioretention, porous surfaces and above-grade cisterns for watering raised garden beds. But when the time came to fund these sustainable features, Perris Elementary School District's budget had run dry. So, our team stepped in to partner with the district to find a solution to fund the school's storm water capture strategies and create a learning environment that's a model for water conservation.

We spearheaded a successful grant proposal for Clearwater Elementary School that awarded the school district with $982,138 as part of the Drought Response Outreach Program for Schools (DROPS) from the California State Water Resources Control Board. The grant directly supports the implementation of storm water capture strategies at Clearwater Elementary by mirroring a regenerative process to restore, renew and revitalize local water sheds. It's also expected to improve groundwater revitalization through enhanced filtration, reduced runoff volume and storm water pollutants. These strategies are flowed into the school's curriculum along with access to high quality environmental education resources and experiences through partnerships with the California Regional Environmental Education Community (CREEC), Inland Empire Water Keeper and Wild California.

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Clearwater Elementary School | HMC Architects

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With California facing one of the most severe droughts on record, it was only natural that water conservation became a concentration for the design of Clearwater Elementary School in Perris, CA. Our team pulled out all the stops-bioswales, bioretention, porous surfaces and above-grade cisterns for watering raised garden beds.

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The STEM Innovation Learning Center (SILC) is a signature component of Wayne State University’s vision for STEM education through multi-disciplinary learning and community engagement that will expand WSU’s vision for inclusive innovation across campus. Bu

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Richardson ISD-Berkner High School STEM Center
Architect: Perkins and Will

In 2018, Texas Instruments awarded a grant to create a "STEM for ALL" concept that instigated a symbiotic relationship between the school and the industry. With this support and with 2016 bond reserves the district converted an existing space into a STEM Exploration Center for for ALL students in the high school feeder pattern. This STEM center now enriches 12,000 students each year and provides professional development for teachers, so they develop competency and confidence in STEM teaching.
Design
The design was informed by the tools needed to support the 5 STEM strands identified in visioning. We cross-examined all strands to identify overlapping requirements to design to support each function while maximizing space flexibility by combining their commonalities. The space flows from public exhibit space through group spaces to individual spaces. Inspired by biophilic design and flexibility, modular furniture and writable surfaces allow students to explore stimulating ways of learning.

Value
The STEM Immersion Center is utilized district-wide and reduces costs the District would otherwise spend on a STEM center on each campus. The Center maintains its value by being nimble enough to adapt to changing workforce strands. It is flexible enough to accommodate each level of curriculum throughout a student's educational career. The open layout and transparency of the design allow the space to expand into a large lab, reducing overall square footage during construction.
Sustainability
Our design is an adaptive reuse of an existing space. The renovation increased daylight and revitalized a closed concept into an open multi-lab STEM Center making a large impact with minimal disruption. It not only embodies sustainability but provides an avenue for educating students on sustainability. The center itself is outfitted in a stimulating, fresh, and organic color palette and all materials were analyzed through our rigorous internal material health process lead by our research team.
Community
Spurred from a grant award, the community was engaged in the project from its inception. Many of the tech firms thrive in the region, the varying socio-economic levels in the community create disparities in access to these jobs for the students. This STEM resource opens opportunities to develop the needed skills. The exhibit spaces are inspired by a culture of making, allowing the space to host different theme displays with fresh and always changing content.
Planning
Planning began with a visioning session at a local museum to break traditional thinking patterns. Stakeholders revealed aspirations to inspire in the younger years, encourage exploration in the middle years, and cultivate STEM thinking in the older years as anchors for curriculum and design. We examined the macro/micro commonalities across STEM to provide complex and agile spaces that can be quickly converted from supporting one STEM strand to another as industries and technologies change.
School Transformation
"An adaptive reuse of an existing space, the renovation revitalized a closed concept to an open multi-lab space increasing daylight and support to varying curricula. Hands on learning, making kits, and interactive technology allow students to explore new ways of learning. Local business investments developed a social contract with students by elevating their education quality and providing opportunities to directly translate those skills into jobs and participate in local economy confidence.
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Star of Distinction Category Winner

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Richardson ISD-Berkner High School STEM Center Architect: Perkins and Will In 2018, Texas Instruments awarded a grant to create a "STEM for ALL" concept that instigated a symbiotic relationship between the school and the industry. With this support and with 2016 bond reserves the district converted an existing space into a STEM Exploration Center for for ALL students in the high school feeder pattern.

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$3.5 Million Building Works across our campus to incorporate STEM throughout our school (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths)

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I like the one glass wall in the classroom that opens out to the commons or gallery area.

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Project Description

One of the first OFCC design-build projects, SHP delivered an open, flexible environment to better serve the client's STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program and student needs. The project included a 52,886 square foot expansion and renovation of a former big box retail space. SHP had to address over $800,000 of life safety improvements before the project could move forward with its aggressive 8-month schedule. The project was still finished on time and within the budget.

Year Completed

2013

Project Features

Classrooms; science labs with support space; project labs included an engineering bar; open, flexible break out areas with soft seating; a wellness room to support PE activities; and offices and conference rooms.

Windows and open spaces to showcase educational activities throughout the school and promote transparency.

The design opens up the old storefront for daylight and to create a new, secured, secondary entrance for students.

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One of the first OFCC design-build projects, SHP delivered an open, flexible environment to better serve the client's STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) program and student needs. The project included a 52,886 square foot expansion and renovation of a former big box retail space.

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Ideal spaces have easy access to water; lend themselves to support various layouts; hard surfaces and ample storage options

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Incorporating STEM or STEAM activities in your curriculum allows students the opportunity to problem solve collaboratively and think creatively. Utilizing the spaces in your school to meet 21st century learning standards does not have to be complicated or budget breaking. With some clever design thinking, you can take an underutilized space and turn it into a dynamic learning environment.

Here are a few steps to add STEM space to your learning environment swiftly and on a shoestring budget:

Design elements to consider:

Flexible Seating

Dry Erase Paint

Clear Storage

Sensory Walls

Indoor/Outdoor Space

Tackable Wall Surfaces

Taping Floor Patterns

Not sure where to start? Start with your curriculum. Good school design and curriculum development go hand in hand. Where is there space for more STEM activities? Begin to think about how space in your school or classroom could work for those activities.

Start small. If you are working within the confines of your own classroom, begin with a few simple adjustments for your space and start incorporating them into your curriculum. Consider what you want the space to do for your curriculum. What projects or activities would you like to incorporate that your current space doesn't lend itself to?

STEM education is about student-led learning, with some teacher guidance. Keeping this in mind, it is important to include your students input early on. Listen to what they want and involve them in all stages of the process. Not only will this help you flesh out your STEM needs but it will keep your students engaged and eager to participate once the space is completed.

When choosing the right space for your STEM/STEAM learning environment there are a few things to keep in mind. Consider spaces that have or can easily get access to water. Look for places that could lend themselves to various layouts for activities. Make note of spaces with hard surfaces and ample storage options.

You can do big work in small spaces. At New Britton Elementary school, our team utilized just 50 to 70 square feet from each classroom and created three different types of space: enclosed small group rooms, open collaboration hubs and huddle spaces. Adding simple design elements such as marker surfaces and magnetic display zones transformed their former corridor space into a central learning commons.

Underutilized media centers are a popular space for schools to upgrade to STEM makerspaces. Viking School in Gurnee, Ill., did just that by updating flooring and paint and adding drop down power to the ceiling. They reconfigured furniture they already had to make collaboration stations, allowing for greater flexibility.

Once you've established the area or areas that you want to make more STEM friendly it's time to make your makerspace. Consider items and arrangements that are multifunctional. Cluster desks or tables together for group activities and collaborative tasks. An old table painted over in dry erase paint can now be a writing, planning and drawing surface, as well as a central location for teams of students to collaborate.

Smarter Places to add STEM:

Excess Classroom Space

Underutilized Corridors

Old Media Centers

Home Economic Classrooms

Previous Teacher Work Spaces

Adding storage options for tools and supplies to collaboration stations is another way to amplify your spaces to efficiently fit in STEM activities. Rearrange your furniture so students have access to windows that can be utilized as dry erase drawing surfaces.

In Deerfield, Ill., at Shepard Middle School, we took traditional science lab spaces and used strategic design elements such as flooring patterns, wall graphics and onsite renewable resources to make their school STEM ready. Consider areas in your classroom or school that are tailored for these elements. Try laying out tape on carpet to help students explore a variety of science concepts. Utilize this approach to turn your doorway into a protractor for students to learn about angles. Your design choices can create STEM learning opportunities for students to explore in a variety of ways.

Ready to take your STEM curriculum to the next level, but need more funding to expand your space and resources? Many districts have a variety of options to receive funding for STEM spaces, as well as a variety of nationwide resources to help educators expand their STEM offerings.

Check out your district's education foundation or parent teacher associations. Many have grants available for teachers and school programs to receive funding for STEM/STEAM projects. Look to your community leaders and organizations to support your programming. Many companies are happy to lend their STEM expertise and even program funding to benefit the community. Work with your district leadership to coordinate outreach efforts. Additionally, Crowdfunding efforts like donorschoose.org have active supporters ready to donate to classroom and school programs.

Finally, don't be afraid to reach out to manufacturers directly. Many flooring manufacturers will donate surplus flooring tiles to education programs. This is a quick way to freshen up your space and add a variety of textures for exploratory activities.

STEM education is integral to developing future-ready students. With these steps in mind, weaving STEM opportunities into your existing space is achievable and affordable.

Resources:

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Designing STEM Spaces on a Tight Budget - Fanning Howey

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Incorporating STEM or STEAM activities in your curriculum allows students the opportunity to problem solve collaboratively and think creatively. Utilizing the spaces in your school to meet 21st century learning standards does not have to be complicated or budget breaking. With some clever design thinking, you can take an underutilized space and turn it into a dynamic learning environment.

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Characteristics of an Effective STEM Classroom

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Characteristics of an Effective STEM Classroom

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Six Characteristics of an Effective STEM Classroom

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Your Guide to Effective STEM Classroom Design | American Modular Systems

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Your Guide to Effective STEM Classroom Design. A leader in modular construction, American Modular Systems is transforming the way schools, classrooms and buildings are constructed.

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The definition of a Makerspace is a place in which people with shared interests, especially in computing or technology, can gather to work on projects while sharing ideas, equipment, and knowledge.

What better place to incorporate a Makerspace than in our classrooms? The traditional style of learning is that the teacher lectures the students and hands them content with only one possible outcome. By adding a Makerspace to your school or classroom, you will be allowing your students to use their own skills, encourage them to work through challenges and make discoveries with more than one possible solution.

This style of learning will give students the chance to adapt to changes and have trials and errors until they find a solution. It will prepare them for real world scenarios and enhance their STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) skills.

If your school isn't ready to take on a full Makerspace, it is a good idea to incorporate some of that in an area of your classroom to allow the collaboration between students and really challenge their brains.

A Makerspace may be something new and foreign to you as it is to many teachers, which can make it an overwhelming process. That is why authors Sylvia Martinez and Gary Stager decided to write a book, ' Invent to Learn', to help teachers like you ease the process. Their book highlights eight characteristics of a thriving Makerspace:

Purpose and relevance. Is the project personally meaningful to students, so they feel invested in it?

Another good source when considering a Makerspace, is the below Vlog from one of our most trusted manufacturers, Paragon. Watch the below video on "How Do You Create A Makerspace In Your School" by President and Co-owner of Paragon, Mark Hubbard.

Kay-Twelve knows the importance of a Makerspace and that is why we offer a variety of Makerspace furniture from leading brands in classroom furniture and equipment, such as Paragon, TeacherGeek, MooreCo, CEF Inc and more. Below you can find some of our most popular components for a flourishing Makerspace.
Paragon's Maker Invent Table and Maker Ideaboard CEF's ED Table with Power MooreCo's Makerspace Mobile Table with Makerspace Tub Carts TeacherGeek's Maker Cart - The Ultimate STEM / STEAM / Maker Solution
Whether you are in the beginning stages of creating a Makerspace and need some guidance or if you know what you want and would like to receive a quote, please click the button below to get in touch with your local Kay-Twelve rep. We are happy to help and guide you through the process from beginning to end.

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The Value of a Makerspace in Our Schools

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By adding a Makerspace to your school or classroom, you will be allowing your students to use their own skills, encourage them to work through challenges and make discoveries with more than one possible solution. Contact Kay-Twelve to help with your Makerspace project. We Accept PO's. 888-624-5451

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What does a student-centered environment look like?

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What does a student-centered environment look like?

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The term "student-centered learning" has become a buzzword in the educational community. It can manifest in a variety of activities and capacities, but simply put, it refers to shifting the focus of education from the teacher to the student. While the idea seems obvious (shouldn't education always be focused on the student?) its applications affect both the design of the learning environment and the role of the teacher within. By renovating traditional spaces to support student-centered learning, schools can increase student engagement and teacher efficacy.

In a traditional learning environment, the teacher single-handedly decides what students will learn and how they will learn it. But a student-centered learning environment empowers students to be active participants in their education by giving them input on what they will learn and how. Student interests are explored in creative and engaging ways, which typically include small group collaboration and integrated technology. Using this approach, teachers serve to guide students through activities, rather than lecture them at the front of the room.

As we understand more about the process in which people learn, it is clear there is no universal approach to education. Students learn in different ways, but one thing holds true for all learners: they learn most effectively when they enjoy it.

By involving students in determining the focus of their learning, a student-centered approach makes them feel valued and ensures they are interested in, and excited by, the content they are studying. Giving learning relevance to students will lead to increased engagement and achievement, and encourage students to grow into lifelong learners. By helping students explore their interests, a student-centered learning approach can even point them to a future career.

Implementing student-centered learning in a traditional classroom space can be a challenge. After all, a fundamentally different approach to education requires a fundamentally different learning environment to support it. To be effective, student-centered learning requires an active, flexible environment designed to support any range of activities and learning objectives. So what does a student-centered learning environment look like?

The arrangement can change day to day, or even hour to hour, depending on the type of space and the activities at hand. Where in traditional classrooms stood rows of desks facing the teacher at the "front" of the room, student-centered classrooms are made up of mobile furniture, and may not have a "front" at all. Students are arranged based on their needs for each activity-some may be collaborating with a partner, some may be learning in groups and others may be working independently on a laptop. The teacher moves around the room guiding students and keeping them on task.

Other flexible environments may include extended learning areas outside of classrooms, or a large, centralized learning commons where students can gather for a variety of projects and activities. These more general spaces are juxtaposed by specialized learning environments, such as makerspaces or a broadcast studio, to support specific student interests within the school. In order to support a wide range of interests, a student-centered school should feature a diversity of spaces.

Older buildings with traditional learning environments typically don't have the diversity of spaces that is required of student-centered learning, so renovations must create it. At New Britton Elementary School in Fishers, Ind., renovations are reconfiguring existing traditional space to create new environments for student-centered learning.

The school's existing wings were double-loaded corridors with 950 SF classrooms on each side. By capturing 50 to 70 SF from each classroom, our team was able to create three different types of space: enclosed small group rooms, open collaboration hubs and huddle spaces. The former corridor space now serves as a central learning commons complete with marker surfaces and magnetic display zones.

Each school's student body and learning community is different, so each school can require different spaces to fit their needs. At Frankfort High School in Frankfort, Ind., students expressed interest in multimedia opportunities, and though the school had developed an effective program, it was hidden in a back corner of the building and limited by available technology. Renovations to the school created a brand new broadcast studio in one of the most prominent places in the building, designed with extensive interior glazing to increase visibility. The new broadcast studio is equipped with industry-standard technology, editing software and a green room for students to develop future-ready skills in multimedia.

Excitement at Frankfort is now at an all-time high. The broadcast studio's accessibility and prominence have made it a centerpiece of the high school, and the program has expanded the scope of its work and projects. Radio and television classes are now involved in school events, including award nights, open houses, musicals, sports, concerts and graduation. The new computers, equipment, cameras and lights in the studio have increased opportunities for students and are effectively preparing them for college and real-world television/radio work.

Student-centered learning is necessary to making students feel valued and invested in their education. Because each educational community is different, architects must work with administrators, teachers and students during planning and design to determine the best way to support learning objectives at their school, and make the most of existing space. By renovating traditional, outdated spaces to support student-centered learning, schools can have a profound impact on student engagement.

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Renovating Schools for Student-Centered Learning

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The term "student-centered learning" has become a buzzword in the educational community. It can manifest in a variety of activities and capacities, but simply put, it refers to shifting the focus of education from the teacher to the student. By renovating traditional spaces to support student-centered learning, schools can increase student engagement and teacher efficacy.

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Renovating a historic building; tandem pods

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Renovating a historic building; tandem pods

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I like the section of the article called "Form Follows Function" about Chicago's Intrinsic School. Very good information about some of the theory and mindset of educational architecture.

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Blended Learning uses school time in a unique way, combining online instruction with traditional methods and giving students more agency over how, when, and where they learn. That third variable, the "where," calls for some serious rethinking of how school space is organized and deployed. In our architectural practice, we have found that design either supports or frustrates a school's mission-it is never an "innocent bystander."

This is particularly true for blended environments, where multiple activities happen at once: a small group of students might be listening to the teacher review a math concept, for instance, while others work nearby on a team science project, and still others work individually on wireless laptops. In a traditional classroom, this welter of activity would be impossible. Blended schools need a different blueprint.

At Wheeler Kearns Architects, an 18-person practice in Chicago, we recently had the opportunity to design, from scratch, new facilities for two charter schools, each one using a distinct blended-learning model. At both schools-one in our city and one in Los Angeles-educators saw blended learning as a way to custom-tailor the school experience for urban students whose backgrounds and learning needs varied widely. They hoped to personalize the education of each student and avoid the limitations of "teaching to the middle."

Blended learning-sometimes called hybrid learning-has been gaining ground in this country since the 1990s, as computer devices have become more personal, portable, and affordable. Hard data on its prevalence are hard to find, but a large majority of school districts have adopted blended learning at least to some degree, and many charter schools are using it "to rethink the entire school experience," according to Michael B. Horn of the Christensen Institute.
Intrinsic Schools
Melissa Zaikos began experimenting with online learning in the Chicago Public Schools, where she spent nine years as a Broad Fellow, most notably, running a group of high-performing schools on the southwest side of the city. After seeing promising results there, Zaikos left CPS to found Intrinsic Schools. With her first charter in hand, she started looking for a space to house a 900-student school and scale up her work with blended learning.

"When we created Intrinsic, we had two goals," Zaikos said. "First, we wanted to create life-changing opportunities and foster postsecondary success for our students. Second, we wanted to create a road map for other educators on how to do this in a sustainable and replicable way. The design of our school was critical to achieving both goals."

In 2012, Zaikos commissioned our firm to design the school, which would be Chicago's first high school built specifically for blended learning. She chose to use a rotational model of blended learning, one of several variations on the approach. Under this model, students rotate among learning methods throughout the day, including online learning. Typically, the school day might also include teacher instruction to small groups or one-on-one, plus collaborative projects and individual paper-and-pencil work. Our challenge was to create a variety of dedicated spaces where students could work relatively distraction-free yet teachers could still see and supervise the whole class.

A team of Intrinsic educators visited successful blended schools throughout the country while our firm started working on drawings and models for possible layouts. We followed a "design thinking" process, first empathizing as best we could with students and instructors to help us understand their daily challenges, then prototyping and testing our ideas. For the prototype phase, Intrinsic staged two pilots during school holidays, borrowing the multipurpose areas of neighborhood schools, where teachers could interact with students who volunteered to participate. These pilot sites, which we outfitted with trial furniture that supported specific activities, allowed the educators to test layouts, scheduling, student engagement, and learning. After each pilot, we responded to the gathered feedback with new iterations of the design.

In parallel, the team was searching for a building site large enough to accommodate 900 students in one of Chicago's high-need areas. We wanted to create large, column-free spaces, and the ubiquitous layout of traditional schools-perimeter classrooms bisected by a common hallway-made that goal expensive or impossible. So we quickly ruled out using an existing school facility and focused our search on former industrial sites, most of which were located adjacent to highly populated neighborhoods. Ultimately, we chose the site of a shuttered lumberyard on W. Belmont Avenue. The buildings on the site had large, open floors and tall ceilings that could accommodate the open studios we wanted to create within "pods" for each grade, from 7th through 12th.

Unexpected delays in the purchase of the site serendipitously compelled the school to incubate its first class in a rented space downtown, formerly used by a college. This setback turned out to be a hidden blessing, because it allowed us to further test our designs before making them final. Feedback from these early experiences dramatically altered our design. For instance, we set up open studios in the rented building and outfitted them with mobile, flexible-use furniture. While this concept made perfect sense on paper, the studios soon began to look like bumper-car sheds. The chaos became stressful to navigate, since the furniture gave no physical clues as to where certain types of learning were meant to take place. We realized we would have to find ways to visually differentiate the learning environments from one another.
Form Follows Function
Construction on the first Intrinsic School began during Chicago's famed "polar vortex" winter of 2013. We retained three buildings on the site that were constructed between 1911 and 1955. Two of them featured historic arcing wood-truss roofs that free-spanned from one exterior brick wall to the other. Supplemented by additions that expanded the footprint by 25 percent, the historic structures were preserved and restored-with beams, trusses, and brick walls intentionally left exposed to the 21st-century learning environment. Underneath the 40-foot-high roof of an open shed built in 1955, a new two-story steel-frame building was built like a ship in a bottle.

Our design called for each grade level to have its own tandem pod, with one pod dedicated to arts and humanities and the other to science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM). As a nod to the architecture of the human brain, we located the humanities on the right and STEM on the left when viewed from the corridor. Students move back and forth between the two sides of the pod throughout the day.

Instead of bisecting the building, the corridor runs lengthwise along the outside, flooded with light from oversize windows. This corridor, which culminates in an atrium near the entry, is often the first nontraditional feature that new visitors notice. There are no central, locker-lined corridors to be found.

Each tandem pod can accommodate 180 students and eight instructors in a given grade, who navigate 10 distinct learning environments within a total of 5,500 square feet. An open studio occupies the main space of each subject-area pod, holding 60 students, three teachers, and four learning environments. Designing these studios proved complicated: we quickly realized that simply scaling up a rectangular classroom would not work for independent-learning environments that needed to overlap, as in a Venn diagram. We had to provide some autonomy for each activity without sacrificing visual connection and the ability of teachers to supervise. This is the double-edged sword of modern open learning spaces. Although they liberate people from the isolation of repetitive cellular rooms, they set up conditions where distractions are likely.

In the end, we decided on two irregular footprints for the open studios-a T-shape and an L-shape-to foster a balance between autonomy and openness. These shapes could be interlocked with two enclosed, soundproof rooms-a seminar room for humanities and a lab for STEM-to form an overall rectangular shape for the tandem pod. These additional spaces allow for teachers to hold Socratic seminars without disturbances and for students to conduct lab exercises in a contained space where safety measures can be observed.

Different shades of carpeting on the floor subtly delineate the open studio's separate learning environments, each tailored to a specific use. Below an oversize, sound-absorbing light shade, which serves as a landmark, a large table facilitates group projects and peer-to-peer learning. Small-group, teacher-led instruction takes place in two "pop-up" learning areas with mobile chairs and ultra-short-throw projectors mounted above walls painted as whiteboards.

Originally, we had planned for students to do their individual work at traditional long tables, sitting across from one another. This idea didn't work: teachers found the tables difficult to supervise, and students distracted one another. So we installed counter-style desks of varying heights around the perimeter of the open studio, creating a "coastline" where students could concentrate on individual tasks, including personalized online learning.

In our planning interviews with teachers, they expressed no interest in having traditional desks of their own. Within weeks of the school's incubation opening, though, many teachers had appropriated a student desk for themselves, setting it up near the middle of the room. At the permanent campus, we formalized their organic solution by creating a central "genius bar" in each open studio, where students could seek one-on-one instruction from a teacher.

As a "1:1" campus, Intrinsic assigns each student his or her own Chromebook computer, enabling students to move about while the teacher can monitor their progress in real time via the school's robust wireless network. Ultimately, Intrinsic hopes to tailor instruction to small groups that form dynamically in response to just-completed student work. Teachers will know immediately which students are at similar points in their learning and will be able to efficiently help them progress.

Effective blended-learning spaces not only foster smooth and seamless activities within the class, they also nurture communication, both verbal and nonverbal, between instructors working as a team. Traditional classrooms isolate teachers from one another much of the time, while blended spaces support collaboration between master instructors, new teachers, and special educators. In fact, this ease of communication was one of the benefits most cited by Intrinsic's founding teachers.

Maggie Culhane, a 10th-grade English instructor, said, "Brainstorming with two other people who are as invested as you are in your classroom-because it is their classroom, too-transforms teaching. The pod space allows me to innovate; my pod-mates compel me to."

Although Intrinsic's main learning spaces use an open plan, they differ from the "open classrooms" of the 1960s and 1970s in important ways. Most obviously, a blended classroom is powered by digital technology, which allows learners to access rich textual, graphic, interactive, video, and audio content unknown to the students of the past. Second, the open-classroom movement revered the notion of "universal space" that could be sliced and rearranged at will and for any purpose. Most any activity could happen anywhere, without regard for adjacent activities. In contrast, today's open-learning environments are not interchangeable but are designed for a dedicated purpose. They interlock with one another to minimize disturbances and foster positive interactions. In the case of Intrinsic Schools, a few of the most effective couplings were unexpected. For example, wrapping a "coastline" of individuals, often listening to personalized content through earbuds, around the spirited conversations of a peer-to-peer learning table, works quite well.

While searching for precedents for Intrinsic, we encountered several schools that had merely knocked down walls between traditional classrooms to create larger spaces. We noted that the resulting rooms lacked intuitive landmarks and visual cues, making it difficult to quickly "read" what should happen where. Supersizing a traditional classroom without adapting it to blended learning can create a stressful and ineffective environment.
Ednovate
Our second client was Oliver Sicat, whom we had known as a founding principal of a charter network in Chicago. Sicat now leads the University of Southern California's charter network, Ednovate, which focuses on high schools in high-need areas in and around Los Angeles. He came back to Chicago to tour Intrinsic's campus, and in 2016 commissioned us to design a new Ednovate high school in the Exposition Park neighborhood of Los Angeles. USC Hybrid High, which currently occupies a facility downtown, plans to relocate to the new building in fall 2017.

Ednovate high schools, all college prep, seek not only to prepare students for postsecondary success but to equip them to use their college degrees and subsequent careers to effect multi-generational change in their communities. Just as first-generation college graduates provide role models for younger people and establish new expectations for their own children, the older students at Ednovate model successful behaviors for the underclass students. As students progress through their four years, they are given increased agency over their own learning. Seniors complete their experience with a yearlong capstone project that attempts to solve a social problem or otherwise improve the community. Sicat wanted to make the seniors' work visible to their younger peers, a goal that traditional isolated classrooms would not support. He envisioned a more open environment and opted for the flex model of blended learning.

Under the flex model, students can adjust the time spent on different modes of learning to improve their outcomes. Throughout the day, they can choose to participate in online and offline activities, with teachers providing support through small-group or individualized instruction and guidance on projects. Sicat sees the flex model as a good fit for project-based learning.

In cooperation with its partner, Pacific Charter School Development (PCSD), Ednovate located four lots along South Vermont Avenue facing the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum. The four unrelated buildings on the site did not suit Ednovate's purpose, so the project required ground-up new construction. In cooperation with PCSD's architect, NAC Architecture, we were commissioned to design a 460-student high school that not only supported Ednovate's blended-learning model but also put the seniors on display as they worked on their capstone projects. And, though Ednovate's budget precluded a formal auditorium, the school wanted a prominent stage where the seniors could present their completed work.

With students deciding what they need to learn and how to learn it, the hope is that such autonomy will promote student engagement and breed the independence that fosters success in college. In theory, a flex environment must be able to accommodate all students choosing to engage in the same mode of learning at the same time. But with a limited capital budget, dedicating space for "peak occupancy" for every learning mode would be impractical. Instead, the environment must be flexible, as the model's moniker implies.

Our solution was to design a "quad-pod" for each grade level. In Ednovate's case, a pod is a classroom-like space, acoustically but not visually isolated from adjacent spaces, that serves as the home base for a single grade-level teacher. Four pods arranged around a central open studio host each grade, with each pod accommodating up to 32 students. In Ednovate's parlance, the open studio is a space that can be recruited on the fly by students working independently or in small groups. It will also serve as a daily meeting space for one of five student advisory groups at each grade level. In its most communal form, the studio can combine with one of the pods to create an oversize pod that can accommodate a standup meeting for a whole grade.

The central feature of Ednovate's two-story campus fulfills two critical requirements. In the heart of the school along Vermont Avenue's sidewalk, a double-height space will serve as the seniors' open studio and an amphitheater for their capstone project presentations. Flanked by the quad-pods of the underclass students, the space exposes the work routines of seniors to their younger counterparts. Instead of surrounding the open studio, the four pods of the senior teachers border one side, where the instructors can supervise activities through clear glass walls.

At the upper level of the central space, two continuous rows of built-in seats encircle the seniors' open studio, with a view of an area on the ground floor, where a stage can be erected as needed for formal presentations. On a daily basis, seniors and teachers can work at the built-in seats, facing a view of the city they are striving to improve.

This feature is but one illustration of how the design process centered on Sicat's vision of learning, which fosters "positive multi-generational change," he said. "From younger students observing older ones to our whole school community looking out to both south central Los Angeles and the University of Southern California, our school is a canvas for students to explore their passions and purpose."
All or Nothing?
Our work for Intrinsic and Ednovate drew the interest of several public-school districts that wanted to learn more about the unique facility demands of blended learning. Often, these educators were seeking to "hedge their bets" on blended learning, hoping for reversible spaces that could be reconverted to traditional cellular classrooms if need be. To date, such a design has eluded us, because the ideal environments for the two learning approaches are so different. Just as the traditional school layout does not lend itself to repurposing for blended models, the inverse seems to be true as well.

The distinct nature of blended-learning spaces was illustrated during a workshop we conducted with Michael Horn at the SXSWedu education conference in early 2016. We asked groups of participating educators to develop hypothetical designs for open-studio spaces that integrated multiple modes of learning and distinct environments. Notably, the vast majority of the groups chose L- or T-shaped footprints, as we had for Intrinsic. Like us, they reasoned that blended-learning activities needed both independence and overlap in order to optimize autonomy, communication, and supervision.
Cost and Efficiency
The public school districts that have contacted us have been particularly interested in the cost implications of blended-learning spaces, since our analysis suggests that blended environments are more efficient and less expensive to build.

Intrinsic's and Ednovate's facilities measure 59,000 and 30,000 square feet, respectively, yielding 62 to 65 square feet of gross area per student, just a little over one-third of what district schools generally provide in Greater Chicago. Still, in the two blended schools, the area dedicated to core learning spaces is 55 percent and 62 percent, respectively, of the total floor area. In contrast, newer traditional district schools dedicate between 20 percent and 30 percent of their footprint to core learning spaces. Most of that difference derives from the fact that the two blended schools, like many charter schools, did not include facilities such as cafeterias and traditional libraries. But space savings also accrued from the more compact pedestrian circulation in the two schools. Areas dedicated to circulation constitute 16 percent of total space at Intrinsic and 17 percent at Ednovate, compared with an average of 25 percent in larger traditional schools.

The relative construction cost of blended facilities also tends to be lower. First, the smaller number of rooms saves money, since every separate room requires its own walls, door, light switches, alarm strobes, and climate control. Such interior-and-systems costs typically represent about 60 percent of total construction costs. We estimate that blended-learning facilities save about 10 percent of costs in this category, or a 6 percent overall savings.

In our analyses, the cost savings of blended schools outstrip their differences in physical size, and these savings are not canceled out by the economies of scale that larger projects provide. If blended learning proves to be a more effective way to educate students, administrators concerned about construction cost should be pleased.
The Future
Some critics of blended learning question its reliance on digital technology, decrying the amount of time students spend in front of computer screens. Advocates, however, point out that that the real gold mined in the digital era is the more-effective use of a teacher's time. In blended classrooms, teachers are as important as ever; in fact, their role is elevated.

The digital technology that powers blended learning will of course continue to evolve, creating new opportunities and making some more accessible. For instance, 3-D printers and laser cutters were virtually unknown in the consumer sphere just a few years ago. Today, schools typically consign such tools, if they have them, to specialized rooms like makerspaces. These and other technologies will likely follow the path of personal computers to become more affordable and ubiquitous.

We foresee other probable trends that could affect the future of blended learning. As schools stretch personalized learning, they will likely cooperate to support different types of learners more effectively. (For instance, we have seen blended-learning spaces starting to resemble those designed for students with learning differences.) Rather than being located predominantly in residential neighborhoods, many schools will migrate to commercial streets, where they can capitalize on transportation networks. Instead of being located in monumental standalone buildings, schools will often inhabit multiuse buildings that foster interaction with other institutions and people from diverse occupations. These may seem like distant scenarios, but we have seen all of them in our architectural practice.

By Intrinsic's second academic year, there were six levels of math being taught in a single grade. And in 2016, Intrinsic's 7th and 8th graders scored higher than 83 percent of schools nationally in reading growth and 91 percent of schools in math growth, based on the Northwest Evaluation Association's MAP assessment. If blended schools throughout the country can demonstrate similarly strong outcomes, educators may well begin to consider how innovative design can support and enhance these learning environments.
Larry Kearns, a principal at Wheeler Kearns Architects in Chicago, focuses on educational and cultural projects with ambitious social, economic, and environmental goals.

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Blended Learning uses school time in a unique way, combining online instruction with traditional methods and giving students more agency over how, when, and where they learn. That third variable, the "where," calls for some serious rethinking of how school space is organized and deployed.

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Note classrooms opening to commons & windows

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Note classrooms opening to commons & windows

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The routing and capture of on-site rainwater is a key concern for students as young as kindergarteners at the Hazel Wolf K-8 E-STEM School in Seattle. Founded in 2009 and named for a 20th-century green activist and Seattle resident, it's the city's first environmentally focused public school. And, by design and serendipity, its own sustainable building and grounds have become fodder for teaching. "Curiosity about the surroundings is something we really encourage," says Joe Bailey-Fogarty, who coordinates the E-STEM (environmental science-technology-engineering-and-math) program. "Observing closely, exploring and discovering how systems work is vital to the learning here."

In an earlier location, the school had 18 acres, traversed by a stream, but that was a temporary arrangement. A 3.2-acre triangular site, about nine miles north of downtown, was available for Hazel Wolf's permanent home. This leftover parcel was complicated by its adjacencies: an artery with banal, awkwardly skewed, low-rise apartment buildings interspersed with storefronts, and, facing the other edges, mostly neighborhoods with single-family houses.

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NAC Architecture's Seattle office designed the new $39 million, 680-student facility, recognizing not only Hazel Wolf's pedagogical vision, but also the importance of resolving the site's ambiguous in-between condition. "The architecture needed to generate a real dialogue with its diverse adjacencies," says NAC design principal Boris Srdar. Other priorities also emerged. The school's founding principal, Debbie Nelsen, recalls asking for "a feeling, throughout, of being outdoors in nature, with plenty of sensory interest and many different types of experiences. We had to maximize learning opportunities on this tight site."

NAC responded with a clean-lined, 83,000-square-foot building, clad in corrugated and flat steel plates-some painted white-accented with orange, prefinished aluminum panels, and dark, split-face concrete masonry units. Shading fins and brows punctuate the south and east elevations, and some of the window groupings have a lively syncopated rhythm. Addressing the character of each adjoining piece of urban/suburban fabric, the massing was articulated as three main volumes: along the traffic artery, a long, low-slung "buffer" form houses such communal spaces as the gym and commons/cafeteria/auditorium; near a residential enclave is a three-story classroom structure; and connecting the two volumes is one containing the art room and library. While the classroom structure stands in a park-like setting, pulled back from the abutting single-family homes, the buffer wing holds its street edge, giving it definition.

But the centerpiece of the campus, framed by its built forms, is a large, protected courtyard with a 23-foot-wide, one-story-high ramp, rising like a hillside over the administration offices efficiently tucked beneath it. This dynamically "topographic" ground plane descends from fully accessible planted roofs down to a rain garden, thick with native vegetation. The route of stormwater is made visible as it flows from the rooftops down vertical conduits, through a grate-covered "mini-creek" to the water garden. There, it percolates through stones and sand into the ground. In the year since the school first opened, several students have chosen to analyze this process-and almost everyone here watches downpours with rapt attention.

The ramp, covered in resilient playground surfacing, "has many uses, and we're still discovering more," says Nelsen. "People congregate on it, lunch on it, run on it, and it's become a great amenity for stress relief, especially for kids with ADD." The long, continuous paths and spatial fluidity reflect Hazel Wolf's educational philosophy, which prizes spontaneous, off-the-cuff teaching, alongside more formal approaches. Distinctions between work and play, indoors and out, and among certain disciplines tend to dematerialize, turning the site's compactness-and necessary overlap of programmatic functions-into opportunity. "The blurring of lines lets the whole place become a lab for learning and experimentation," says Srdar. "Whereas, with compartmentalization, serendipity gets lost."

The site's meandering routes enfold botanical and butterfly gardens and calming "sit spots" for observing or drawing. "Our previous home had natural places kids gravitated to," says Nelsen. "We asked NAC to replicate that kind of experience." Near the periphery, some of these areas are open to locals, stitching together school and neighborhood, and giving back to a community that supported a bond to create Hazel Wolf's new home.

Connections to nature continue into the building, with big windows and a living wall just inside the main entrance, announcing the school's identity. With such indoor-out qualities, "a lot of spontaneous learning happens here pretty seamlessly," says E-STEM coordinator Bailey-Fogarty. "We just step outside to demonstrate. Or in urban ecology class, we send everyone out to look for roots, shoots, spiders, and worms. The students live the environment they're studying-it's all integral-and their questions become part of the process."

Given the school's belief in the value of seeing what's going on all around, says Srdar, "we gave a lot of attention to sight lines and circulation." Interior pods, or breakout spaces, punctuate the classroom clusters, offering informal areas for group or individual work. Decks extend from the library and science labs, allowing experiments to happen outside. From the building's core, views down concrete-paved corridors reveal all four exposures. And the central stairwell includes a three-story window and an adjacent wall with exposed seismic bracing, set against a mural of the project's handwritten structural calculations.

Recently, after a sixth-grade team presented models for natural water filtration, one pupil commented: "I don't know any other school where you'd find a geothermal heating/cooling system [which Hazel Wolf has], a rain garden, and a living wall, but it's all here-and we get to learn about it."

In the near future, Hazel Wolf will get solar roof panels. "And you can be sure," says Nelsen, "that learning opportunity won't be missed."

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Hazel Wolf K-8 E-STEM School by NAC Architecture

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The routing and capture of on-site rainwater is a key concern for students as young as kindergarteners at the Hazel Wolf K-8 E-STEM School in Seattle. Founded in 2009 and named for a 20th-century green activist and Seattle resident, it's the city's first environmentally focused public school.

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Flexible School Furniture | Classroom, Makerspace, Library | Paragon Furniture

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Maker Space Furniture - Flexible School Furniture | Classroom, Makerspace, Library | Paragon Furniture

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Makerspace Furniture Paragon designs & manufactures a full line of Makerspace & Innovation Lab furniture for educational environments Makerspace & Innovation Lab Furniture MAKER INVENT MAKER IDEABOARD READY CHAIRS & STOOLS CROSSFIT STORAGE ALL-WELDED TABLE BLENDER FOAM SEATING INFINITY MOBILE SHELVING CROSSFIT TEACHER DESK & PODIUM EMOJI CHAIRS & STOOLS CHARGEBAR TABLES ACTIVITY TABLES IC ...

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We now offer our Chameleon Classroom System in all-inclusive maker table packages that are discounted for the entire set! Includes, magnetic mount stools, storage, and more.Three different heights to cover all grade levels!

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Get Back To Thriving: The Best Use of ESSER Funds for Your School

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MooreCo | Innovative Furniture & Environments Designed for Everyone to Thrive

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Download and watch our discussion with experts in the fields of education and design on how to get the most out of your ESSER funds. Download Explore our comprehensive guide to leveraging your emergency relief funds to keep your students thriving! Download Guide We want to grow with you!

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TeacherGeek - Best STEM, STEAM, Science & Technology Class Projects

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Amazing and affordable engineering/science projects for kids; hydraulic arms, mousetrap and rubber band vehicles, wind turbines, Rube Goldburg, electronics, etc

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Reading Beliefs

1. Choice in what students read and how much they read influences motivation and achievement.

2. Texts need to have a small challenge in order for students to problem-solve and apply new learning.

3. Students need to do lots of independent reading of self-selected texts.

4. Easy access to books students can and want to read is crucial to readers' success.

5. Students need to be taught how to choose "just right" books.

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Reading Beliefs 1. Choice in what students read and how much they read influences motivation and achievement. 2. Texts need to have a small challenge in order for students to problem-solve and apply new learning. 3. Students need to do lots of independent reading of self-selected texts. 4.

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Library Media Center - Valley Middle School of STEM

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To promote a lifelong love of reading and learning To meet student needs for information, technology, and real-world relevance To provide a collaborative space for students to learn, research, and innovate Activities Read, enjoy and discover great books here at Valley Middle School of STEM! How can I join?

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Library Media Center / Welcome to Our Library

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Katie.rosenberg@knoxschools.org, or pop in for a visit during school hours -- you're never an intrusion! I can't wait to chat about books, research, and library resources with you!

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Website for Holly Springs ES STEM Academy

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Website for Holly Springs ES STEM Academy

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Mrs. Maria McCardle
Click here to contact our Media Specialist What do HSES students do in the Media Center?
Students visit the Media Center for lessons related to literacy, digital citizenship, research and technology. They can also check out books, use print and online resources, work independently, or visit our makerspace. The Media Center is also a popular place to visit for quiet reading or working on puzzles.
What resources are available in the Media Center?
We have over 12,000 books available for checkout as well as a collection of ebooks. Students can also access CCSD online subscription resources for research or class projects. Information about books available for checkout and online resources can also be accessed anywhere the Internet is available.
How can students access online subscriptions?
Click the images below to access some of our most popular resources. Usernames/passwords are available in the Media Center or with your child's classroom teacher.
A few Friendly Reminders:
*If a book is lost or damaged beyond repair, you will be responsible for replacing the book.

*If you find and return the lost book that you paid for you will be refunded your money.

*If your shelf marker is lost there is a $2.50 replacement fee.

*Make sure you take your library books home in your backpack- this will help to keep them from being damaged.

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Mrs. Maria McCardle Click here to contact our Media Specialist What do HSES students do in the Media Center? Students visit the Media Center for lessons related to literacy, digital citizenship, research and technology. They can also check out books, use print and online resources, work independently, or visit our makerspace.

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Even though you try to think of everything a new school needs, some things will still be missing. Gathering lists of needs from teachers, custodians, main office, specials will be helpful.

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Remember this??

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Brookside Lower School opens the door to a journey filled with wonder, challenge, adventure, and excitement about learning. These critical early experiences are the building blocks that form the foundational base required for the exceptional education that continues through the middle and upper schools at Cranbrook.

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Found this school listed as one of the "best STEM schools" and noticed that they still have a pretty traditional library space.

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The Virginia Wing Library is a vibrant and modern school library that supports 21st century learning.

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Lots of tweets about literacy and library events.

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You have to check out this school library!

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The Little School of Keystone opened in Fall 2012 after Keystone received the pavilion and 2 acres from the Greek American Society and the Catacalos Family as a generous gift.

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* by Nilka Avilés, Ed.D., and Juanita C. García, Ph.D. * IDRA Newsletter * September 2014 *
Picture fifth graders gathered around a table where teachers are modeling the effects of sand erosion by wind and water. They then plan a set of learning centers that they themselves will lead for fourth graders. This scene is Science Camp at Gus Guerra Elementary where fifth graders participated in an engaging series of learning centers to master science concepts.

IDRA's South Central Collaborative for Equity has partnered with the school to engage in changing the campus culture to one that is child-centered, college going and highly engaged with parents and community. Every child, regardless of characteristics and identified needs, is challenged to reach high standards and is given requisite pedagogical, social, emotional and psychological supports.

The major goals are to increase the school's effectiveness in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) and to increase academic language by particularly integrating the linguistic demands of the STEM areas into the curriculum. Through intensive language development and strengthened core content instructional programs designed to increase comprehensible input and acquisition of academic language among all student groups and across grade levels, the campus is succeeding in preparing primary grade students for upper elementary grades, middle school, high school and college.

This is being accomplished through a well-aligned multidisciplinary approach and strengthened instruction that incorporates dynamic and highly interactive instruction for all fourth and fifth grade students. IDRA's approach to professional learning values the role of teachers, administrators, parents and students as co-creators of a campus culture where student voices are heard and incorporated into the curriculum and other campus activities designed to strengthen both students' academic pursuits and non-cognitive factors that are crucial to their engagement and academic success.

Why STEM in Elementary School?

Children inherently have inquisitive minds and are natural scientists and problem-solvers. They make sense of the world around them by using all their senses to discover, take apart, build and create. This kind of learning is fun and exciting. This excitement must continue as children enter school and progress throughout their educational journey to ensure skilled workers in STEM-related fields who are equipped to lead and sustain our economy. The best way to ensure returns on these investments is to start fostering these skills in young children. Evidence has been growing over the last decade showing the significant effect of math and science experiences as early as prekindergarten on later learning and attitudes toward STEM (NSB, 2010; NAEYC & NCTM, 2010).

Effective teachers play a vital role in nurturing the natural enthusiasm for scientific learning children bring. How can elementary teachers make STEM part of what their students do in the classroom every day? Our collaborative partnership involved four critical elements that teachers have embraced and adapted to lead their students to a successful STEM education.

1. Shifting the Paradigm from Teacher-Centered to Student-Centered Instruction

Student-centered instruction has its roots in constructivist theory of learning. In constructivist classrooms, students build their understanding of the world as a result of their actions. IDRA staff educators and Gus Guerra Elementary School teachers and administrators reviewed areas of need in math and science and agreed on the topics to be modeled in their classrooms. Armed with research-based and highly-interactive strategies for engaging all students, including English language learners, IDRA modeled lessons and debriefed with teachers on what they observed. The teachers committed to create an environment where STEM was a natural and real part of the curriculum. When a classroom operates with student-centered instruction, students and teachers share the focus interacting equally.

2. Empowering and Valuing Teacher Strengths

Teachers have a profound impact on students' lives. IDRA recognizes the tremendous capacities all teachers have acquired through their years of experience. The best teachers believe in their students, challenge and inspire them, and urge them to take risks in learning.

The climate established at Gus Guerra Elementary School is that of respect, valuing backgrounds and strengths, and incorporating these daily in profound ways into the classroom. IDRA educators built on teachers' leadership capacities and capitalized on campus leadership, mobilizing the principal, teachers, support staff and parents as a force to share the responsibility for STEM education. Together they created a vision to reach high standards of excellence in conjunction with a meaningful professional development for teachers.

3. Building Trust and Fostering Confidence

Through coaching and mentoring experiences, teachers emerged to become more confident and comfortable in teaching STEM concepts. After observing IDRA staff, teachers took leadership roles by developing lessons that include strategies they had learned to foster innovation and cultivate problem solving and logical thinking. By integrating STEM activities in lessons, teachers experienced successful outcomes, such as increased student engagement in learning, improved benchmarks and STAAR results, self-accountability, gaining trust, and becoming confident and competent. These opportunities convinced them to nurture their creativity and become innovative risk takers to be successful. Teachers realized their enormous strengths and how they were able to build on them.

4. Establishing a Sustainable Cultural Transformation

The school administration and teachers are committed to transforming the role of STEM in the curriculum and the way they teach STEM areas, ensuring that all students succeed while creating a sustainable, robust and open pipeline for STEM. To sustain the effort, school staff gathered and shared ideas and resources and developed lessons to support this transformation. The vision and new culture at the campus has led to the promotion of engaged and motivated students who value STEM and are better equipped to face the role they play in our society to address scientific, social and the economic challenges of our world. The school has experienced a sustainable cultural transformation where teachers and students learn the same way scientists and mathematicians learn - by doing. Educating the next generation of scientists, technologists, engineers and mathematicians with the skills from high quality hands-on teaching experiences fosters critical thinkers who adapt to change, an essential component to any future career.

Successful teaching and learning begins with a vision of providing quality and culturally relevant opportunities for all students. The principal of the school, Rebecca Sánchez, deserves much credit for motivating teachers to become leaders and risk takers.

Educators Reflect on their Experience with IDRA's Role in School Transformation:

"It has been rewarding to observe the students taking ownership of their roles as they worked cooperatively in guiding each other to accomplish their tasks."

- Teacher, Gus Guerra Elementary School

"The experience with IDRA was second to none. We are looking forward to working with IDRA in the years to come."

- Teacher, Gus Guerra Elementary School

"The experiences that have been provided by IDRA have been priceless when it comes to student engagement and the level of critical thinking students have exemplified."

- Campus instructional coach, Gus Guerra Elementary School

"For several years now, IDRA staff have mentored and coached teachers in fourth and fifth grades and has been instrumental in empowering teachers with strategies and tools to positively impact student learning. We have begun to reap the rewards and have begun to transform each classroom into a powerful teaching and learning community. We have made significant gains in the area of science. Last year, we were one of only seven campuses in PSJA ISD that met Adequate Yearly Progress (AYP). Although we have much to celebrate, we must remember, Todavía no podemos cantar victoria. We still have much to accomplish. We believe that with IDRA's collaboration, we can continue to transform our students, our school and our community."

- Rebecca Sánchez, principal, Gus Guerra Elementary School

Resources

Avilés, N. " Building College Readiness for All Students," IDRA Newsletter (October 2013).

Avilés, N. " The Need for Minority High Schools with a STEM Focus," IDRA Newsletter (February 2012).

García, J. & Rodriguez, R. " Building Interest in STEM," IDRA Newsletter (January 2014).

Johnson, P. " A Valuing Professional Development Model," - Podcast Episode 143 (July 28, 2014).

NAEYC & NCTM. Early Childhood Mathematics: Promoting Good Beginnings, A joint position statement (Adopted in 2002; Updated in 2010).

National Science Board. Preparing the Next Generation of STEM Innovators: Identifying and Developing Our Nation's Human Capita l (National Science Foundation, 2010).
Nilka Avilés, Ed.D., is a senior education associate in IDRA Field Services. Juanita C. García, Ph.D., is an education associate in IDRA Field Services. Comments and questions may be directed to them via email at feedback@idra.org.
[©2014, IDRA. This article originally appeared in the September 2014 IDRA Newsletter by the Intercultural Development Research Association. Permission to reproduce this article is granted provided the article is reprinted in its entirety and proper credit is given to IDRA and the author.]

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An Elementary School's STEM Success Story - IDRA Technical Assistance Empowers Teachers with Strategies to Impact Student Learning - IDRA

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by Nilka Avilés, Ed.D., and Juanita C. García, Ph.D. * IDRA Newsletter * September 2014 * Picture fifth graders gathered around a table where teachers are modeling the effects of sand erosion by wind and water. They then plan a set of learning centers that they themselves will lead for fourth graders.

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Media Center-Ground Ball STEM Elementary

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Media Center-Ground Ball STEM Elementary

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Welcome to the Ball Ground Elementary STEM Academy Media Center!

Elementary School Media Specialist Mission Statement It is the mission of the Cherokee County Elementary Media Center to be a welcoming and stimulating informational center of the school, to assist students, staff, and community to become effective and ethical users of ideas, information and technologies, to support all users to be information literate, and to create an atmosphere that fosters a love of reading and develops lifelong learners, and to build partnerships through collaboration for learning.

Online Resources

Click on the buttons below to explore databases and resources provided by Cherokee County. Please contact your teacher for usernames and passwords for sites with subscriptions.
Online Safety through Common Sense Media
At BGSA, we are committed to helping our students learn the habits and skills they need to use technology safely and responsibly in school, at home, and beyond.

Kids today may seem like experts at using technology, but the digital world requires all kinds of skills and habits that kids don't just pick up as they go.

Common Sense Education provides lessons to help kids in grades K-2 develop healthy media habits and learn how to be safe online. Lessons for kids in grades 3-5 continue to focus on screen time and online safety. Older kids can also learn about how to recognize cyberbullying, what is and isn't OK to share online, and how to find credible news and information.

Common Sense Education provides resources to help you support your child's learning. To learn more about Common Sense Education's tools and resources, visit www.commonsense.org/education.

Common Sense Media provides parents and kids with ratings for movies, TV shows, books, apps, websites, and more so parents can feel good about the entertainment choices they make for their kids. Each media review has:

Reviews: 1-5 Star Rating, Common Sense Media's Professional Reviews, Parent and Kid Reviews

What Parents Need to Know

Is It Any Good?

Talk To Your Kids About...

Educational Value

And More!

You can visit the Common Sense website at www.commonsensemedia.org to start your search now!

Working together with Common Sense Education, we can prepare today's kids to think critically and use technology in positive, creative, and powerful ways!

Parent Links

Student Links

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Welcome to the Ball Ground Elementary STEM Academy Media Center! Elementary School Media Specialist Mission Statement It is the mission of the Cherokee County Elementary Media Center to be a welcoming and stimulating informational center of the school, to assist students, staff, and community to become effective and ethical users of ideas, information and technologies, to support all users to be information literate, and to create an atmosphere that fosters a love of reading and develops lifelong learners, and to build partnerships through collaboration for learning.

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School Specialty has an enormous inventory of school furniture at excellent prices. Browse our selection of classroom furniture and discover fantastic deals.

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Classroom Champions: Librarian wants drums to promote music, leadership skills

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Adding drums to house chants

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GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - Just as in the Harry Potter movies, students at Westview Elementary in Goose Creek represent four unique houses.

There's the house of Reveur -- the dreamers, the house of Altruismo -- the givers, the house of Isibindi, which means courage and the house of Amistad which means friendship.

Each Westview house immerses itself in either African, French, Mexican or Brazilian culture and promotes leadership and soft skills in the students.

Librarian Jennifer Beaver says the one thing that brings the houses together besides kinship and building skills is music.

Each house has its own unique identity and its own chants, colors and cheers.

"We believe all kids need a crew and a cause and the house system helps them seek out apart from everyday class. They wear house colors every Friday and meet in community groups with our houses," Beaver said.

Beaver says her Donors Choose project entitled 'Bring the Beat' hopes to incorporate the addition of drums into each house system at the school.

Allowing students and teachers to add drumming in their daily class routine using the drumbeats for specific chants for when a student or a class does something really well.

"It would say to them we are invested in them and in this and we want to see them succeed. Children respond to music everybody responds to music and we want our kids to feel that welcome that music brings," Beaver said.

Beaver says right now her school is asking for one drum for students to use.

The hope is to eventually get an African djembe drum for all their classrooms.

You can help get this drum project started for the students at Westview Elementary School by becoming a Classroom Champion right now and donating at this link.

All donations are tax-deductible.

Donors Choose collects your money, then buys the items and sends them to the teacher.

This ensures that your donation is used for our area teachers.
Copyright 2022 WCSC. All rights reserved.

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Classroom Champions: Librarian wants drums to promote music, leadership skills

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GOOSE CREEK, S.C. (WCSC) - Just as in the Harry Potter movies, students at Westview Elementary in Goose Creek represent four unique houses. There's the house of Reveur -- the dreamers, the house of Altruismo -- the givers, the house of Isibindi, which means courage and the house of Amistad which means friendship.

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Amazeum Activity 20Design 20Strategies 20workshop 111621 Neosho 20GT LMS

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Amazeum 20STEAM 20Foundations Neosho 20GT 20and 20Media 20Specialists Oct 202021 20PD

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2016 Bond Usage & Updates / Antelope Ridge Elementary School

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Sierra Brown, Ellie Dalrymple and Brenden Hill have an active investment in Antelope Ridge Elementary School.

As members of the school's Student Council, these fifth-graders and their peers have made a commitment their school and its future students. Along with other Antelope Ridge students, they had an active voice in designing the school's new Innovation Space, a place designed to encourage investment, collaboration and next-generation learning.

"This space is more comfortable. It feels bigger than it did before," said Brenden Hill, as he stood in the center of the refurbished and redesigned space. He pointed to several new features, including an open, auditorium-like lecture section, interactive furniture and cozy nooks designed to accommodate individual learning. "The bulky chairs and tables are gone. We can draw on our desks and get things done."

That feeling of freedom and possibility was a big part of the redesign process, according to Antelope Ridge Principal Amy Winant. In reinventing a traditional library space, school administrators wanted to provide students more opportunities and freedoms. They wanted to create a core space where kids could work together or find their own private spot to focus.

"We really wanted this space to be a collaborative, heart of the school where students and grade levels can meet. So far this year, we've really been able to see those goals realized," Winant said. "Our whole purpose was really to make it a place for kids to think, create and collaborate."

A walk through the new space in the fall of 2019 showed just how much Antelope Ridge staff stayed true to those ideals. During a time when multiple classes and multiple grade levels were at work at once, the space still felt open and airy. As first-graders sat on tiered seats, or "story steps," older students worked on a robotics assignment in one of the neighboring "Maker Spaces." At the same time, other students navigated around the library's bookshelves and took up spots in new nooks designed for private reading time.

"We've made everything movable, and it's been completely accommodating," Winant said. "They were very intentional. Big groups can come together, small groups can come together and students can work individually. We've also created a space where teachers can thrive through Project Based Learning and offer individualized instruction."

Similar spaces have gone up in every elementary and middle school in the Cherry Creek School District, and came through funding approved by voters in 2016. The spaces are designed to develop skills like collaboration, inquiry, empathy, problem-solving, curiosity, innovative thinking and passion. According to the latest academic research, as well as firsthand input from parents, teachers and other members of the CCSD community garnered during the Cherry Creek 2021 initiative, these are the skills that are integral to preparing students for a 21st-century academic and professional landscape. This innovative approach to learning is also tied directly to the Instructional Excellence priority in Cherry Creek Future Forward, the district's roadmap for maintaining educational excellence.

"We worked with business, we worked with industry and we worked with colleges when we created the focus of what our innovation spaces would be. The goal is helping our students become critical thinkers," said CCSD Superintendent Dr. Scott Siegfried. "We want them to use knowledge in different ways, and we want them to learn to effectively learn to work with other people." Siegfried added that every innovation space was designed to meet the unique needs of every separate school and community. "One of the greatest parts of our innovation work is allowing every school, every principal, every student and every community to be engaged in what innovation should look like at their school," Siegfried said. "This is the next iteration of excellence."

"Students will be able to move flexibly to varied spots throughout the space to allow for different environments for thinking and learning! Student can choose to be quiet and focused or the time may come for more collaborative team discussion, planning, and creating"

-Principal Amy Winant

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2016 Bond Usage & Updates / Antelope Ridge Elementary School

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Sierra Brown, Ellie Dalrymple and Brenden Hill have an active investment in Antelope Ridge Elementary School. As members of the school's Student Council, these fifth-graders and their peers have made a commitment their school and its future students.

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Education By Design: Challenging the Traditional Definition of a Learning Space | NEA

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A new generation of school buildings is being designed to accommodate a new generation of students. Working with educators, many of today's architects and interior designers are replacing last century's staid school buildings and box-like classrooms with architecturally bold designs that are affordable, aesthetic, and energy-efficient.

Gone for good in many districts are rigid rows of heavy steel-framed desks with students facing a lecturer at the front of a neutral-colored classroom white chalk in hand.

"My classroom doesn't have a front," says Lauren Rudman, a teacher at Discovery Elementary School in Arlington, Va. "It's flexible."

Increasingly, new school interiors include seminar-style rooms with round tables, dry erase whiteboards in hallways, Scrabble and LEGO walls. To create extra space when needed for large internal and external group meetings, new schools usually contain retractable garage doors, foldable partitions, and stackable furniture.

Rudman's fourth-graders are based in a studio classroom with a glass wall on the corridor intentionally placed across a technology commons area. Within a normal 45-minute class period, Rudman can find herself monitoring three sets of students with some sitting on the window box against the glass wall or on a stool in the commons area while others study at their tables.

"I can interact with one group of students at a small table in my classroom and still keep an eye on students on the other side of the glass," she says.

Most of Discovery's classrooms feature flexible furniture including height-adjustable tables, upholstered chairs, beanbags, and carpeted reading steps that provide students with flexibility.

"An appropriate amount of visual openness in a school promotes a culture of collaboration," says Wyck Knox, lead architect on Discovery's design team. "Everyone learns in unique ways, in their own preferred environment."

Knox says there is no wrong way or place to learn although many of today's architects are challenging the traditional definition of a learning space as defined by four walls.

"Each learning space should be allowed the opportunity to be something greater than its box," he says. "Creativity is showcased in spaces that are joyful, bright, and honor the learner and educator."

Near Salt Lake City, in Woods Cross, Utah, Odyssey Elementary School incorporates into its teaching pedagogy the theme of "Bodies in Motion: The Animal Kingdom." Classrooms are organized between four wings, called "habitats." Each habitat has a name: swim, run, jump, fly.

"The idea was to create a fun environment students want to attend everyday," says John Oderda, an architect who oversaw the construction of Odyssey, which opened its doors in 2014. "The one animal that can do all of these things is the human animal."

"An appropriate amount of visual openness in a school promotes a culture of collaboration. Everyone learns in unique ways, in their own preferred environment." - Wyck Knox, lead architect on Discovery's design team.

Although education funding at all levels has been flat in recent years, the education construction sector remains one of the biggest in the category of nonresidential construction, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. However, for some officials leading our nation's 13,515 school districts, there does not seem to be a need to start from scratch with a bold new building. Instead of a full facelift, some school administrators choose to nip and tuck one room at a time.

For example, Roosevelt Middle School in San Francisco won a grant that went toward updating the design and function of its cafeteria. In Chandler, Ariz., a teacher won a grant to renovate Santan Elementary School's outdated school lounge.

Still, the Holy Grail of school cosmetic surgery at the moment seems to be the installation of solar panels to help achieve net zero energy cost. While only a handful of schools do so right now, says Knox, the percentage of new schools pursuing this objective is rapidly rising.

"Enough projects, specifically public schools, have demonstrated that achieving net zero cost is possible without breaking the bank," he says. "Having more zero energy buildings is critical for the environment, but zero energy schools protect that most precious of tax dollars - annual operating costs of schools."

Oderda agrees: "Good design doesn't have to cost anymore than bad design. You have to put something on the wall. A colored wall doesn't cost more than a white wall."

The Art of Discovery

Nestled in a sleepy residential area of Arlington, Va., the radiant Discovery Elementary School rests securely atop a hill. Tidy rows of slopeside trees add beauty and cover to the two-story building. In front and along the tiered landscape, a long stonewall conceals several play areas, vegetable gardens, and water basins connected to an underground geothermal system that reduces energy costs.

While outdoor areas are shaded from the quiet streets below, the school's cerebral interior is an open book. Every nook and cranny shines as a manifesto of exploration, imagination, and discovery.

"It's more like a children's museum inside, where the walls are interactive," says Principal Erin Russo.

At Discovery, the walls, floors and ceilings thematically communicate the progress students make from one grade to the next. The first floor design scheme centers on earth ecosystems. Terrestrial shapes systematically orient kindergarten students as Backyard Adventurers. Upon entering first grade, students become Forest Trailblazers then Ocean Navigators in grade two.

The celestial-themed second floor identifies with the sky and solar system. At this elevation, third-graders are categorized as Atmosphere Aviators, fourth-graders as Solar System Pioneers, and fifth-graders as Galaxy Voyagers. When students start school, they sign their name on magnetic disc attached to the entry wall and watch over the years as their disc moves down the wall.

"This approach gives students a grade-level identity while also engaging them as they interact with the building," says Russo.

Before Discovery opened in 2015, students from Arlington Public Schools who would be attending were asked at public meetings to vote on names for the school and mascot. The "Discovery Explorers" mascot name pays tribute to John Glenn, who lived near the school site when he became the first American to orbit the earth in 1962. In 1998, while serving in the U.S. Senate, Glenn returned to space on the shuttle Discovery, the school's namesake.

Serving approximately 650 students, Discovery cost almost $33 million.

A sleek roof canopy runs the length of the school covering outdoor dining and play spaces. More than 1,700 rooftop solar panels and other means account for the school's net zero energy usage while serving as a lab where students conduct experiments.

"Features like these are designed to create a seamless integration between curriculum, environmental awareness, and energy sustainability," says Russo.

One of the school's showstoppers is a large digital dashboard screen located near the entry. The state-of-the-art system tracks Discovery's lighting, technology, and other energy use in real-time where it is published and accessible to every school device connected to the Internet.

"We use it more as an interactive learning tool for students and teachers," says Russo. "We want it to motivate them to help the building maintain net zero energy status and create awareness about energy use."

The Sky's the Limit for Learning

Art teacher Maria Burke stands beneath a solar skylight portal built into the ceiling.

"It adds light to the room on cloudy days," says Burke, a member of the Arlington Education Association (AEA).

Natural light also cascades into the room from oversized windows facing south, a deliberate design point that took into consideration solar orientation. Along with Burke's classroom, interiors on the south side of the building feature bright, sunny colors. The north side of the school features cooler colors such as greens and blues, reflecting the natural hues of moss that grows on the north side of trees.

In her classroom, Burke makes full use of tall wooden shelving to store art supplies. The room includes a retractable garage door that opens up for large-group meetings and three sinks aligned to accommodate more than one student at a time.

"It's a dream classroom," says Burke, who makes it a point not to clutter her beloved room with gratuitous signs and images. "Students need light and an uncluttered environment to think and create."

Two unique features of the school are located on the second floor: a bright yellow two-story slide and a glass-enclosed meeting room for teachers fondly referred to as the "fish bowl."

"An appropriate amount of visual openness in the school promotes a culture of collaboration, because that cross-pollination and creativity is showcased in spaces that are joyful, bright, and honor the learner and educator," says Knox, executive architect at VMDO Architects.

Net Zero School

Along with promoting themes through innovative design, school districts are increasingly building schools that attempt to reduce energy costs. Davis School District's Odyssey, for example, has been designated as being the first net zero school building in Utah.

Thanks to 1,200 rooftop solar panels and other means, the two-story building uses less electrical energy of any other school building in the state.

"Ideally, we wanted to generate just as much energy as we need," says Oderda. "We estimated the school's energy need when the design process started in 2010 and then designed accordingly."

The school has also achieved Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Gold certification, which is one of the most popular green building certification programs used worldwide.

"The school uses low-flow water fixtures," says Oderda. Water conservation is also incorporated outdoors with the use of sensors in the school's sprinkler system.

The hallmark of poor design, says Oderda, is obnoxious signage.

"We try to do things as visually as possible where you don't have chunky arrows telling you where to go," he says.

At Odyssey, its 650 students and multiple visitors can easily find their way around the two-story school by orienting themselves to six colors clearly laid out on the floor and walls.

The walls in the open cafeteria and auditorium area are decorated with large banners containing images of hikers, rock climbers, hang gliders and surfers. Inspirational quotes from J.K. Rowling, Thomas Jefferson, Dr. Seuss, and others line second-floor walls and doorways.

The Bodies in Motion theme encourages exercise and enjoying the outdoors, Oderda says. Childhood obesity was a front-page topic when the school was being planned beginning in 2010.

"The movement theme was a way to combat obesity," Oderda says. "We try to present information at a level students will understand without talking down to them."

At the design phase, the architects also considered the life cycle of the building and how it could expand with the times. Instead of tearing down walls, building doors and walls are easily removed for reuse instead of demolition.

"We tried to make the building as flexible as possible," say Oderda, of Salt Lake City-based VCBO Architects.

The curved exterior of the building has sparkling blue reflective metal panels that evoke water in motion and reference the scales of a fish.

"The curved design makes it look like the building is moving," says Oderda. "The building's exterior is in sync with the school's theme -- movement."

Physical design features like those found at Odyssey and Discovery might be architecturally stunning but they are above all else student-centered. While solar panels and digital dashboards may be all the rage in education construction, well-designed new schools seem to convey the simple message that society values education.
Photo credit (top image): VMDO Architects
California Cool: A Reinvented School Cafeteria

Designing school cafeterias as places where students might voluntarily choose to dine can be a challenge. In 2013, officials with San Francisco Unified School District (SFUSD) hired global design firm Ideo to help them determine how to get students more excited about eating at school.

After a six-month discovery process involving more than 1,300 district students, families, educators, cafeteria workers, and administrators, designers learned among other things that during lunchtime kids crave to be with friends.

"School cafeterias weren't originally designed to make hanging out with friends a priority," says Ideo's Sandy Speicher. "Kids were waiting in long lines to assemble their food trays, and many students were skipping that process to get to the ultimate goal of social time."

In addition to considering how to entice students to dine in, designers were also challenged by cost efficiencies and operations.

"One important component of the new design strategy was to create distributed points of sale so that students could access meals in multiple places in order to avoid long lines," says Gentle Blythe, SFUSD chief communications officer.

Today, in place of dreary rows of long tables, stark fluorescent lighting, and long food lines, you will find outdoor mobile carts serving sandwiches, a Chill Out area with fluffy couches and bright yellow chairs, and family-style round tables, each with an adult leader and student-captain responsible for cleaning up.

"The new cafeteria makes for a comfortable, efficient environment," says David Watson, who has taught English at Roosevelt for 12 years. "It encourages socializing but also offers quieter areas for students who might want to just sit and read."

District officials say the cafeteria redesign project is an ongoing process where student priorities will remain front and center. For upcoming schools, the design team will involve students in the designing process so they can assume more ownership of the space.

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Education By Design: Challenging the Traditional Definition of a Learning Space | NEA

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A new generation of school buildings is being designed to accommodate a new generation of students. Working with educators, many of today's architects and interior designers are replacing last century's staid school buildings and box-like classrooms with architecturally bold designs that are affordable, aesthetic, and energy-efficient.

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HMFH Architect’s design of Thompson Elementary School: Designer Forum

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HMFH Architect’s design of Thompson Elementary School: Designer Forum

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July 2015—Lori Cowles and Melissa Green with HMFH Architects describe its Thompson Elementary School project and detail how Forbo linoleum and Milliken carpet tile helped the firm achieve its final design.

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Meadow View & Token Springs Elementary Schools - Education Snapshots

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The pictures are beautiful

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Eppstein Uhen Architects designed two elementary schools in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to support the growing population - Meadow View Elementary School and Token Springs Elementary School.

As one of the fastest growing communities in Wisconsin, Sun Prairie Area School District's existing seven elementary schools had reached capacity. As a result of a facilities study, it was determined that two new elementary schools were needed to accommodate the continued enrollment growth.

The schools were designed around four drivers - Learning is Central, Diversity, Authentic Engagement and Leaders of Innovation - and resulted in highly flexible environments where learning can happen anywhere. These drivers were integrated in both design and function. Movable walls allow for co-teaching and the expanding of classrooms; reconfigurable furniture supports different needs and learning styles, allowing teachers to highly customize their spaces to fit their students' preferences.

Within both schools, the learning environments are configured into eight-room "ecosystems" to accommodate multiple grade levels and teaching styles. Each ecosystem has its own theme based on terrains found around the world; the themes include Arctic, Ocean, Beach and Forest with each ecosystem holding two levels of grades. Social areas in the core of the school are Prairie themed, paying homage to the community. Each ecosystem has classrooms, small group rooms, learning alcoves, a makerspace and a shared classroom library within its central collaboration area. Areas for staff collaboration and student services, as well as restrooms, lockers and storage round out the program.

The new elementary schools have different color palettes that reinforce their individual brands but with a unified design concept. The aspiration of the design was to celebrate a global community that supports diversity, representative in circular patterns found throughout the school.

The design incorporates a great deal of transparency throughout, yielding multiple benefits. Not only does the high degree of transparency create a safer environment with faculty having increased visibility, but it also creates a more dynamic learning space with visual connectivity between indoor and outdoor learning areas, including a terrace located outside of the cafeteria.

It was very important to Sun Prairie Area School District to encourage green consciousness to their students. Rooftop solar panels provide energy to the schools and serve as an educational opportunity to encourage sustainable awareness. LED lights used throughout reduce energy consumption. Below the schools, a series of underground wells forming a geothermal field use the natural temperatures of the earth to heat and cool the schools' water supply in lieu of electricity. Around the schools, drought resistant landscaping aids in the reduction of water use, and outdoor learning spaces allow students to have an immersive education in the importance of protecting the environment.

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Meadow View & Token Springs Elementary Schools - Education Snapshots

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Eppstein Uhen Architects designed two elementary schools in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin to support the growing population - Meadow View Elementary School and Token Springs Elementary School. As one of the fastest growing communities in Wisconsin, Sun Prairie Area School District's existing seven elementary schools had reached capacity.

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Jefferson Elementary School - FEH Design

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The Muscatine Community School District challenged FEH DESIGN to develop a new elementary on the site with the existing 1926 Jefferson Elementary and Central Middle School, while maintaining the use of both of the schools throughout construction. That challenge created wonderful opportunities by using the site contours and the existing buildings to develop a multi-level building that blends with the existing Middle School and neighborhood. The District wanted a building that had a traditional exterior presence with similarities to the original school, but a very modern interior for the students and staff. The new 2-story school is a 3-section, Pre-Kindergarten through 5th Grade building. The interior design focused on the use of bright colors, easy maintenance materials, color coded wayfinding, and easy navigation through the school for new students and family members. The main entrance is immediately next to the commons / lunch room and gymnasium, allowing the community to use these spaces after hours. Large clerestory translucent glazing in the gymnasium allows for activities throughout the day, without the need for lighting. LED lighting, daylight harvesting and geothermal well fields with heat pumps have created a very energy efficient building. FEH DESIGN met the District's challenge with rave reviews by the students, staff and the community!

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Jefferson Elementary School - FEH Design

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The Muscatine Community School District challenged FEH DESIGN to develop a new elementary on the site with the existing 1926 Jefferson Elementary and Central Middle School, while maintaining the use of both of the schools throughout construction.

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Innnovative Elementary School Breaks Ground in Harvard - School Construction News

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HARVARD, Mass.-Boston-based architecture and design firm, Arrowstreet recently joined the Town of Harvard, the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), and State Senator Jamie Eldridge, as well as School Board and School Building Committee members, teachers, students and families to celebrate the groundbreaking of Hildreth Elementary School in Harvard.

When completed in 2021, the new 85,200-square-foot, PK-5 school will be home to a 21st century learning environment that meets the educational vision of this high-performing school district while also respecting the character and values of the Town. The new school will include:

25 core classrooms for Grades PK-5 with flexible learning spaces that accommodate large group, small group and individual learning needs;

An Innovation Lab to facilitate Science Technology Engineering and Math (STEM) learning;

Cafeteria, Media Center and gymnasium designed to create a strong sense of community;

District offices for the Superintendent and other administrative support staff;

And site improvements that include playgrounds and playing fields, improved bus and vehicle circulation and parking, and storm water mitigation measures.

The new building design represents a two-year process of working with administrators, faculty and staff, and community members to define the educational program and design the building to suit the District's high-performing approach to learning.

"From the onset of this project, it has been clear to us what a wonderful community Harvard is, and the town's impressive commitment to education and creating a sense of place," said Larry Spang, Principal at Arrowstreet, who leads the firm's schools practice. "Inspired by Harvard, we designed the new school with three core goals: create educational spaces to support the today's learning styles in support of the community's commitment to education; design the building to enhance the existing context of historic Harvard; and create a sense of community. We look forward to two years from now when students and teachers open the doors to the school that they envisioned."

"Today is big day for the town of Harvard. A lot of hard work and dedication to providing high quality education went into making our vision for this school a reality. We owe thanks to the generosity of the many volunteers and the taxpayers who made this project possible. The new school will add value to our community and help prepare the next generation in a beautiful, engaging and sustainable building," said the School Building Committee Chair SusanMary Redinger.

Arrowstreet is a Boston-based architecture, planning, graphic design and interior design firm. Six principals collaborate with a talented team of designers who see projects from diverse perspectives resulting in designs that have significant impact.

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Innnovative Elementary School Breaks Ground in Harvard - School Construction News

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Boston-based architecture and design firm, Arrowstreet recently joined the Town of Harvard, the Massachusetts School Building Authority (MSBA), and State Senator Jamie Eldridge, as well as School Board and School Building Committee members, teachers, students and families to celebrate the groundbreaking of Hildreth Elementary School in Harvard.

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We are a hub for innovation, collaboration and creativity at Stanford. Our mission is to help people become everyday innovators, everywhere.

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In late 2020, we announced the addition of products that would support hands-on early learning in partnership with TTS International. In 2021, we released our first Little Book and added pre-K educators to Pitsco TAG. We've had a chance to connect with more educators and add new friends to the Pitsco family. And now we're a few weeks away from the next issue of the Little Book. Time surely does fly when you're having fun!

At the time of the announcement, we shared why we felt it was important to serve this age group with our expanded solution assortment. "Pitsco and TTS believe that STEM learning can happen anywhere, anytime, and at any age." But there's still so much to say. We fully believe that STEM education in early childhood education is critical not only to individual student success but also to building better communities.

The future is for the making! So, let's help our earliest learners MAKE MEANING of their world.

How? With quality, early STEM experiences.

". . . Research analysis found that young children are capable of engaging in, at developmentally appropriate levels, the scientific practices that high school students carry out" (McClure et al. 2017). As one researcher explained, young children "can make observations and predictions, carry out simple experiments and investigations, collect data, and begin to make sense of what they found." NAEYC also adds, "When we say children are 'born scientists,' we're not just being cute. Children really are intentionally exploring their environments."

1. ALL young children can learn and do STEM.

2. STEM learning supports the most critical point of brain development (between birth to age 5).

3. STEM learning takes advantage of natural interest and active exploration.

Quality early childhood education is embedded with proven experiential cross-curricular delivery methods. STEM is a naturally cross-curricular approach to delivering a variety of subject matter in a uniquely integrated, authentic, and highly engaging way. It allows children opportunities to foster 21st-century skills, which are highly demanded, and essential tools needed for success as they enter both their next grade level and eventually society at large.

1. STEM promotes strong ties between STEM learning and language learning.

2. STEM learning improves social-emotional learning skills.

3. STEM learning can have impact on academic outcomes for all subjects, especially math and science.

Rooted in the work of education, psychologists such as John Dewey, Jean Piaget, and Lev Vygotsky, as well as early childhood studies such as HighScope, immersive learning such as that experienced in STEM-STEAM-STREAM activities taps into the human brain's aptitude not just for knowledge retention but also for knowledge construction. It provides children the opportunity to develop skills rather than memorize content.

Best practices in early childhood education are clear that hands-on opportunities in a child's natural environment promote basic developmental skills, later becoming skills and competencies that last for many years and lead to both educational and professional success.

1. STEM activities encourage independent and collaborative learning.

2. Hands-on experiences improve retention.

3. STEM learning promotes readiness for higher education and career success.

Young learners are curious and capable. They are full of wonder! And, we can wonder alongside them! Offering experiences that are safe, nurturing, and developmentally appropriate provides them the chance to make, break, build, test, grow, and repeat. Learning through play for the win any day!

STEM learning encourages lifelong learning.

STEM in early childhood education means growing heads and hearts with hands on. It helps today's kids take the world to the next place it will be.

.

Ready for more? Looking for ways to get started? Check out these blogs:

" Are you Kitting me?"
Explore Kitt the Learning Companion. Kitt is a multipurpose robot that supports educators in delivering content and assessing student progress while encouraging children to own their learning and have fun doing so.

" What's new in early learning"
Learn more about our PreK-2 STEM Activity Bundles.

" Life as a Girl Dad"
A personal take on how one girl dad is helping break barriers with STEM.

" Once upon a STEM story - Building STEM skills with fairy tales"
Use childhood classics to encourage a full STREAM experience.

" STEMspired books that encourage"
STEM is as close as your next book. Check out a few of our favorite STEM reads.

" Chocolate-covered learning: Seven STEM activities for kids"
Check out this pretty sweet roundup of STEM activities great for young kids.

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Top 10 reasons for STEM in early childhood education

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In late 2020, we announced the addition of products that would support hands-on early learning in partnership with TTS International. In 2021, we released our first Little Book and added pre-K educators to Pitsco TAG. We've had a chance to connect with more educators and add new friends to the Pitsco family.

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Nice local resource.

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Hi all! If you recall, I recently wrote a blog about our early-learning activity bundles recommended for Grades PreK-2. You know, those fun and engaging activities that really encourage playful learning and organic exploration?

Here are some of the big advantages of activity bundles:

Differentiated learning within each lesson and bundle

Aligned with standards, including standards for NGSS and Common Core ELA and Math Standards

Include cross-curricular activities

Many opportunities to expand and modify the lessons

Minimal consumable materials

Work great in summer camps or after-school environments

Two activities and one engineering design challenge included in each bundle guide

Enough materials to serve 10-12 students in each bundle

While we have 15 activity bundles to pick and choose from (we wanted you to have variety 😊), I want to focus and share with you our five newest bundles that have recently been introduced.

As a quick side note, the original 10 bundles were:

1. Design and Construction

2. Float or Sink

3. Food Web

4. Forces in Motion

5. Habitats

6. Light

7. Measuring and Graphing

8. Rhythm and Patterns

9. Sorting and Categories

10. Sound

But today, I want to share with you these five NEWEST bundle titles:

We all know this, but kids love animals! With this bundle, students will examine various types of animal structures, investigate human and animal skeletons, and design skeleton art.

The culminating engineering challenge is to brainstorm ideas to create an invention that uses animal traits to solve a human problem.

What type of invention can you think of?

With this bundle, early learners will explore and investigate their five senses and will use their sense of touch to match objects they cannot see.

The concluding engineering challenge is to design something they can wear to protect them from the environment modeled after an observed animal protection.

What can you think of to design?

In the Life Cycles activity bundle, students will explore the life cycles of different plants and animals to determine how parents and their children are both the same and different and discover the behaviors of parents that help their offspring survive.

At the end of the activities, the engineering design challenge is for the students to design and build an artificial animal habitat using recyclable items.

How would you build a habitat with this challenge in mind?

With the Mass in Movement Activity Bundle, early learners will explore the effects of mass on the motion of objects, learn about collisions between objects of different masses, and describe the effects of those collisions.

The concluding engineering design challenge is to build a domino drop.

Doesn't that sound fun?!

With the last one of our new bundles, students will learn all about weather: the types of weather, patterns of weather, and what clothes to wear for specific types of weather.

The culminating engineering challenge is to present a weather forecast and design a structure to protect against the weather.

What's the best bundle to teach in the middle of winter? This one.

We're Here for You

As you can see, we have many solutions to help those early learners with robust, fun, and engaging learning experiences.

If you need any assistance picking the right ones for your classroom, we're here to help! Please reach out to the education advisor for your area and they'll be more than happy to assist.

At the end of the day, we want to see your students succeed just like you do! Stay safe, be well, and thank you for all you do. You are truly making a difference.

Explore ALL our activity bundles and more online!

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What else is new in early learning? Engaging activities for preK-2

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Hi all! If you recall, I recently wrote a blog about our early-learning activity bundles recommended for Grades PreK-2. You know, those fun and engaging activities that really encourage playful learning and organic exploration?