How Do We Build Better Schools? Ask the Students
Okay, YouTube -- it's time to trade in those water balloons for some #2 pencils. A new school year is upon us!
Thankfully, an organization called Architecture for Humanity (AFH) is trying to make the idea of heading back to school a bit more palatable. Earlier this year, they launched a competition for architects to design a "classroom of the future" and address the challenges schools face in trying to provide smart, safe and sustainable learning spaces.
A large number of entrants used YouTube to convey student input on their designs. This mashup shows how youth from schools around the world were involved in the planning process. Students also learned how to use various building tools through a YouTube series sponsored by AFH. In this video, students are taught to do modeling using Google Sketchup:
Architecture for Humanity had over 1,000 teams from 65 countries participate in the challenge and today they announced the winner, who will receive up to $50,000 to build or upgrade a classroom. Here's a video about the winning design from the Teton Valley Community School:
Interesting features of the Teton Valley project include a building that is heated and cooled geo-thermally, a greenhouse, and an outdoor area for each grade level.
What features do you think are essential to the classroom of the future? Leave your ideas in the comments below.
Ramya Raghavan, Nonprofits & Activism, recently watched "Jazz Guitar Lesson."
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7 comments:
Schools are basically about 3 things.
1 Well educated and motivated teachers.
2 Enough time to explore the curriculum
3 A positive partnership between schools and parents.
If this is fulfilled, schools need only the most basic of tools
Teach them when and where to use their cell phones, they even have them in elementary school now!
This is the best way by which we can improve our school because students know more than us about school.
bipolar disorder
"What features do you think are essential to the classroom of the future?"
Speaking as a college professor, I believe that ALL schools of the future will have to have at least two things in order for students to be successful academically:
#1 -- Technology: All students need to be computer and Internet literate
#2 -- Updated and maintained school libraries. Books and encyclopedias should always be kept current. There's no reason for students of 2009 to still be reading history books printed in the 1960's and 1970's.
Better school can be made only when feedback from students and teachers are taken into consideration.
echinacea
The design is perfect-love
This is the best way by which we can improve our school because students know more than us about school.
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