| Thursday, March 16, 2017 – 3:15-4:30 pm |
| Breakout Session 1: Digging DEEPER for Real LEARNING Results |
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Speakers: Leon Chatelain, AIA, Senior Consultant/Project Manager, Bowie Gridley Architects
Xenia Cox, Archademia
Catherine Saldutti, EduChange
Room: Renaissance
While understanding of the mechanics of learning and teaching has expanded dramatically over the past fifteen years, there are schools and school districts that are leading the way towards improving student outcomes with programs and approaches that yield measurable results. These strategies emerge from research and collection of large and small data and qualitative evidence that demonstrates what works, what doesn't work and what is still missing in the quest to prepare students for success and improve academic outcomes. Our distinguished panel of researchers, educators and architects will examine topics that inform effective educational practice through the following guiding questions:
- What have educators found to have the most significant impact on improving student outcomes? What do, or should, educators prioritize in planning for schools and how does that inform the design of instruction models?
- How can these principles of effective educational practice in turn inform the design of learning environments and schools? We will provide examples of where these research-supported, outcome-driven educator priorities have informed design decision-making.
- How can the design community support and amplify educator priorities and, therefore, student outcomes? What can be done differently and better in providing design services to schools and school districts?
Now, more than ever, the work of educators who are transforming the future of teaching and learning needs to inform architecture, not the other way around. Participants in this session will gain a deeper understanding of the challenges that educators face in their daily work, strategies for integrating that understanding into the next design project, and a foundation for ongoing authentic and courageous dialogue between education and design practitioners towards a shared goal of improving student academic and life outcomes.
Track: Programs That Work
Learning Objectives:
- Learn what impacts student outcomes in education.
- Learn how to have successful conversations with educators.
- Learn how to have cross-sector interaction between educators and planners .
- Understand successful design results of this cross-sector interaction.
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| Breakout Session 2: Classroom or Career: When you Get to a Fork in the Road, Take It
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Speakers: Glenn Gollenberg, AIA, The S/L/A/M Collaborativ
Neil O'Leary, City of Waterbury
Gregg Blackstone, CREC Public Safety Academy
Amy Christmas
Room: Salon 2
In response to the globalization of the economy and the push toward developing innovative problem-solvers with a background in STEM, education has derived from the post-war industrial arts programs and has created robust experiential learning environments that engage students in a host of simulated settings. This session will examine differences in the visioning/planning/design process of two inter-district themed magnet schools, the CREC Enfield Public Safety Academy and the Metropolitan Business Academy Inter-District High School in comparison to two themed city schools such as the Providence Career Technical Academy and Waterbury Career Academy resulting in dynamic learning spaces supporting both the themed and core curricula. Today, themed high schools not only prepare students to be qualified applicants for local employers, but to choose between starting a career and continuing to post-secondary education. As we better understand the different learner styles, educational delivery methods including flipped classrooms, project- and team-based learning evolve. This study will demonstrate how innovative academic spaces varying from classrooms, shops, and labs engage all students in various subjects. SLAM's Amy Christmas and Glenn Gollenberg, AIA alongside Waterbury Mayor O'Leary and Gregg Blackstone of CREC Public Safety Academy will examine the visioning, programming, planning and design processes of these institutions in further detail while demonstrating outcomes. SLAM's architectural response to the need for students that can work and learn in a challenging and collaborative setting has fostered two distinct graduation paths: work experience to enter the competitive workforce after graduation and engagement to be better prepared to decide a path for higher education.
Track: All
Learning Objectives:
- Experience the relationship between teaching methodology and learning environments in both classroom and simulated environments.
- Recognize how learning spaces can foster innovation in teaching and improved learning outcomes for all learner types.
- Discuss outcomes and lessons learned from case studies of city and inter-district themed schools.
- Engage local business and industry to help round out the themed curriculum.
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| Breakout Session 3: Are You Sure Your Designs Really Work? |
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Speakers: Laura Wermick, FAIA, REFP, LEED AP, HMFH
Ms. Politis, AICP, Community Circle
Kris Gallo, Concord, NH School District
Room: State Suite A
We as architects have great enthusiasm for what we believe our designs can achieve. We often tout research based outcomes to support our ideas for our building layouts. But how often do we go back and undertake Post Occupancy Evaluations to evaluate whether our schools are working in the way we imagined? In 2012, three new elementary schools opened in Concord, NH. Each school was designed around a revolutionary Learning Commons approach. In 2016, a 3rd party researcher went into the now four-year-old Concord Elementary Schools to ask the educators what worked and what could work better in the Learning Commons that were so integral to the design of the schools. Thoughtful questions were developed to understand how frequently the Learning Commons were being used and for what typical purpose. The results were surprising to the architects and to the educators as well and have serious implications for every designer of educational facilities.
Track: Cities That Work
Learning Objectives:
- Understand how to develop goals and appropriate format for a POE and understand the potential risk of a POE
- Understand how the POE was undertaken at the Concord Elementary Schools Learning Commons
- Understand the results of the Concord Elementary Schools Learning commons POE
- Understand the implications of the results for other schools considering designing Learning Commons
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| Breakout Session 4: Creating New Context and Possibilities: A Case Study of the Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus |
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Speakers: James E. LaPosta, Jr., FAIA, JCJ Architecture
Victor Black, Ed.D., Information Technology and Software Engineering High School
James W. Hoagland, AIA, JCJ Architecture
Room: State Suite B
The Fairchild Wheeler Interdistrict Magnet Campus (FWiMC) – winner of A4LE's 2016 MacConnell award – is a high school that has defied the odds. From the school's unlikely formulation and long road to development, to the way in which it is achieving startling results with students, the program and the people behind it have a story to tell about perseverance and ingenuity. The panel will examine the program's goals and objectives; the educational vision that drove planning and design; the unique coalition of groups that drove the development of curriculum; the form and response of the building and site to the program; the role of sustainability; the unique programmatic elements; the school's specific approach to educating a this diverse group of students and the challenges and successes that have come in the first three years of operation. Attendees will hear from two of the design professionals instrumental in the project's design and from one of the school's three magnet school principals.
Track: Schools That Work
Learning Objectives:
- Examine curriculum and a specific architectural response
- Observe how the project's design has assisted teachers and administrators in the development of a mature and student centered learning environment
- Learn how the project has helped to create a dynamic and motivated community of learners
- Learn how the school's population of urban and suburban students have come together and how the school is implementing this unique curriculum
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| Breakout Session 5: Interdisciplinary work spaces: How museums and maker spaces can inform classroom design |
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Speakers: Donna DiBArtolomeo
Callie Gaspary, Mosaic Associates
Joanne Vogel, Mosaic Associates
Room: Salon G
Learning spaces in out-of-school settings provide an interesting inspiration for innovative classrooms and school environments. Museums focused on hands-on learning, such as science centers, children's museums, and maker spaces, are great examples of flexible interdisciplinary design for educational use. These museums serve a variety of users, making adaptable design a priority. Interactive museums typically focus on open-ended, inquiry-based learning, with activities centered on design-thinking and creative investigations. This session will provide insight into several exemplary educational spaces in out-of-school settings. Expert school designers will provide counterpoint to spark discussion on how interdisciplinary spaces can be developed and adapted to serve creative and collaborative initiatives in 21st Century Learning. Flexible design is not only needed to facilitate new trends in learning, but also as a way to maximize and create the most efficient use of the space we have. In New York State, school construction projects are made up mostly of renovations, which challenges designers to make the most of the space on hand to facilitate the needs of the curriculum and also the desires of local school districts to open their buildings to the public after hours. Schools are becoming the community centers of our neighborhoods and need to have the flexibility to serve a variety of functions. During the day, they should be able to accommodate 21st century learning with collaboration across disciplines, while at night they may act as a setting for a formal meeting or election, a computer class, maker faire, or basketball game.
Track: Schools That Work
Learning Objectives:
- Gain familiarity with effective museum and maker space design, and how this design may impact traditional in-school learning spaces.
- Think critically about the limitations and opportunities in a non-traditional, collaborative space.
- Incorporate best practices in design to flexible spaces (accessibility, efficiency, materials).
- Translate and adapt existing designs to suit new clients and classrooms.
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