Educational Sessions

Friday, October 23, 2015, 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM

A Lens for Learning – Tacoma's Innovative Science and Math Institute

Michael McGavock, AIA, McGranahan Architects
Stephen Murakami, REFP, Tacoma Public Schools
Jon Ketler, Tacoma Public Schools

Spinnaker 1-2

Tacoma School District [WA] established the Science and Math Institute (SAMI) within a 702-acre public park of old growth forest, steep-bank waterfront and an acclaimed research zoo. Since 2009, 450 high school students and teachers have utilized existing facilities in the park; 14 portables and abundant ecological habitats surrounding them. When the opportunity to lay down permanent roots within the park became a reality, in partnership with Metro Parks Tacoma and Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium, a fresh collaborative planning approach needed to be created to bring a diverse set of stakeholders into the design process. By using Point Defiance Park and the Zoo setting as a whole school for exploratory, project-based learning – the partnership has provided students with a naturalized, immersive learning environment as a ‘lens for learning’, for the whole community. The unique pedagogical values defining SAMI’s curriculum and supporting activities in nature include discourse, design, experimentation and fabrication. To bind these modalities to indoor/outdoor settings, the team conducted “scenario mapping” workshops; engaging students, teachers, zoo educators, curatorial staff, community partners and local artists. Over 100 scenarios described daily life, special events and particular activities that strengthen each student’s personal sense of community as well the broader perspective of the Tacoma community at large. To truly understand the student experience, a SAMI 12th grader interned at McGranahan Architects, collaborated in the design process and conducted an additional workshop with his peers to explore the utility and essential qualities of collaborative learning settings. In this session we examine these processes and share the results of multi-stakeholder, community-based exercises and student-driven investigations that have infused meaning and relevance into the design of SAMI. One thing is clear, the shared use of community assets and the partnerships that are formed create powerful learning experiences for students, teachers and community alike. Our aim is to generate insight and dialogue about community-based assets for attendees in their own communities and how to engage in the design process!

Learning Objectives:

Learn how public/private partnerships serve as a foundation for the transformation of school culture
Define activities, attributes and essential qualities of physical learning environments utilizing a ‘scenario mapping’ planning exercise
Identify design strategies for innovative learning environments that include intensive shared community use on a daily basis.
Impart lessons learned in forming lasting partnerships between community institutions and their assets for the benefit of both the school and the community

1 LU

1 CE

Demystifying Integrated Site Design

Julie Hendricks, Kirksey
Colley Hodges, Kirksey

Marina 3

Though integrated design is often discussed, it is implemented far more rarely. The next version of LEED, called v4, aims to ensure integrated site design through the collection of comprehensive site information during early design. What difference will that make? In this presentation, we will answer this question by presenting case studies, identifying helpful tools, and using iterative design charrettes. Our case studies are a range of schools located in Texas, with sites ranging from previously developed industrial, to greenfield suburban. For these projects, we will compare topography, soil, existing vegetation, historical development, disadvantaged populations, and pollution sources, and we will share the tools to find this information. For the second part of our session, we will facilitate two design charrettes that will demonstrate the difference that site assessment information can make in the design process. In the first flash charrette, participants will have limited information – a satellite view of a site, topographic information, and a basic program – and they will be asked to work with others at their table to generate a site plan for a school. Teams will be instructed to place a building on the site, identify landscape and hardscape areas, and indicate the flow of stormwater. The resulting designs will be photographed and removed. In the second and longer charrette, the same teams will restart their designs from scratch. However, this time participants will be assigned roles and provided with detailed site assessment information relevant to their role. For example, the team member assigned as the landscape architect will receive information about soils and plant species; the architect will receive a site plan showing historic uses and nearby structures; the owner will receive information about demographics and pollution sources. Each team member will present their info to the group. After all information has been presented, the team will come to consensus for the second time on the placement of elements on the site. In the debriefing that follows, teams will discuss their process and solution with all the session attendees, while photos of their first and second design solutions are projected on the screen side-by-side. We’ll ask each group what factors from the site assessment were the biggest drivers in their decision-making process and any differences between their first and second designs.

Learning Objectives:

Participants will be able to identify the key pieces of information required for site assessment.
Participants will be able to locate and utilize helpful tools needed in the research for site assessment information.
Participants will be able to utilize specific site information to reach a design consensus that conserves natural resources, and maximizes human health and well-being.
Participants will be able to understand the difference between integrated site design and a typical less integrated design approach.

1 HSW

1 CE

Kindling the Spark of Innovation and Imagination: How Katy ISD Created Environments to Keep Pace with Learners and Leaders

Lynn Carmen Day, Riverside Unified School District
Andrew Sterner, Corona-Norco Unified School District

Executive 2A-2B

In this session the attendee will learn how a school district responded to the challenge of providing an engaging and creative environment for bringing new ideas and projects to life. There was a growing trend among engineers and in the Houston area about doing something with interested youth to mentor, encourage, and embrace new technologies. One of the most visible of these non-school district sponsored organizations was robotics. Smart adults and interested kids were building a program with no resources from the District. They rented vacant storefront, purchased their own tools, and still competed well in national events. Influenced by the business community’s adoption and support of these “over achievers,” the District created, with community and youth input a facility that defies easy explanation. It has become the proverbial beehive of activity. This session will examine how learning space can be designed with enough flexibility to satisfy even the most outrageous requirements as well as the adaptability to meet specific program requirements. Specific areas discussed:

Building partnerships
Visioning – what do we need, what do others do, and what do we want to do
Bringing the vision to life – interactive design process
Keeping everybody safe
Students without borders
Preparing for the future with imagination and innovation

Katy Independent School District has over 9,000 employees and 70,000 students.

Learning Objectives:

Learn through a case study design concepts to assist in the design of a K-12 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics) learning environment.
Through a case study understand operational challenges associated with a collaberative project center to ensure a safe and efficient learning environment.
Through participation and a case study learn how a STEAM project center environment can embody the principle of creative learning both inside and outside.
To learn a collaborative design process to assist in the design of a STEAM center through a case study.

1 LU

1 CE

The Future of the K-6 Library: Extinction of Metamorphosis? A Case Study on the Transformation of the Lawrence Public Schools

David Reid, Gould Evans
Rick Doll, Lawrence Public Schools

Seabreeze

It's easy to point to great new "libraries" at colleges and universities across the globe. Highly innovative ... barely looking like libraries at all. Higher education has pioneered a transformation of the campus library as the value of housing print collections has decreased dramatically and the need to accommodate more technology has increased dramatically. But what about the future of the K-6 Library? Does any of the precedence from the collegiate world translate to K-6? Are the pressures and needs similar? If not, what's different? Come hear about the research that led to a new design framework for the K-6 Library of the Future. Driven by the needs of early readers growing up in a digital world, the research captures insights from cognitive psychologists, sociologists, and professional educators alike. The design team came up with a set of guiding design principles that informed a series of unique library transformations across several distinctly unique elementary schools, some dating from as early as 1910. Hear how these libraries support a more active model of blended learning, an ethos of maker-based learning, and a culture of self-directed learning. Hear how these libraries provide new opportunities to support community well outside the school walls. And learn how these libraries assume new roles within the school community such that the definition of “Library” has garnered an entirely new meaning. Student wellness is a critical component in great education outcomes, which are largely influenced by the quality and performance of the learning environment. Strategically designed learning spaces engender demonstrable positive emotional responses among users of buildings and sites.

Learning Objectives:

Learn where the scientific community is at on the debate between print vs. digital reading materials and how the two impact the learning of early readers; use this understanding to make informed planning decisions about the future of your print collections.
Apply lessons at your home school based on how teachers have expanded their repertoire of learning activities when provided with a versatile teaching and learning space; one with a palette of learning tools that supports a wider range of learning activities, and one with a palette of learning spaces that better support various learning styles among students.
Expand educational planning initiatives based on an understanding of how the ownership of the school library affects its programmatic uses, and when extended from a single librarian to the teacher community, how the library can become a more versatile resource for the school.
Design your own planning process, borrowing lessons and tips from this research and design project. Gain insights from your staff & community to affect change for your school library.

1 LU

1 CE

We Are Not Passengers ... We Are Crew! Expeditionary Learning – Inside Out/Outside In

Richard D. Moretti, Ed.D., ALEP, LEED AP, StudioJAED
Philip R. Conte, AIA, NCARB, StudioJAED

Marina 6

Across the nation, educators, policy makers, and parents are looking for ways to fix an educational system that is failing far too many students. Expeditionary Learning (EL) inspires the motivation to learn, engages teachers and students in new and different levels of focus and effort, and transforms schools into places where students and adults become leaders of their own learning. This seminar will focus on how EL does that, with a particular emphasis on learning expeditions. Core practices of EL that will be explored include:

Curriculum and expeditions
Instruction
Culture and character
Assessment
Leadership

Also included in our discussion will be how EL:

Engages with communities
Makes learning relevant
Achieves students’ “personal bests”
Has students solving complex, real-world problems, many in a community context
Increases achievement (with evidence of success)

Actual examples of expeditions will be featured. This seminar will also point out the space characteristics needed to support an EL elementary school by illustrating, through a case study, the design characteristics of the Mapleton Expeditionary Learning Charter Elementary School.

Learning Objectives:

To understand what Expeditionary Learning is and how it differs from other innovative PBL instructional models.
To understand the core practices of EL
To understand how expeditions challenge students to think critically and take active roles in their classrooms and communities.
To understand the unique characteristics of EL space design necessary to support the overall mission and core practices of EL.

1 LU

1 CE

Leading the Way: A Blueprint for a Self-Improving Education System

Paul MacIntyre, Headteacher, Myton School, Warwick, UK
Terry White, Edunova Associates, UK

Seabreeze

Leading educational professionals in the UK want a system in which all children and young people achieve. We believe we can have a great education system that delivers quality and equality for all students. To achieve this will require an act of imagination, courage and collective action with a new vision for the education system. At its heart is capacity building, leading capacity, pedagogical capacity and the capacity for creativity and action. The Association of School and College Leaders in the UK have been developing a Blueprint that proposes a system where the Government would step back from the micromanagement of schools and the teaching profession would step forward to lead development. A new system would champion professional learning where curriculum change would be introduced in a managed way based upon evidence rather than political whims. Inspections would focus on outcomes rather than processes and schools and colleges would be properly financed by a national fair funding formula. ASCL believe that “the best way to take our education from being good to great and to improve the life chances of every child is for it to be led by those who understand it”. In this session Paul will share a context and evolution of the blueprint strategy for a self-improving system and the conclusions that have been reached to set an improved agenda for future learning.

Learning Objectives:

To inform delegates of new strategies for leading schools in the UK
To develop strategies for collaboration and pedagogical change as a means to improve the education system
To demonstrate the value of modern learning environments
To demonstrate the value of partnership working with architects in their development