Furniture for the future

There are so many aspects of traditional ‘schooling’ that need re-examination. One of those is the place of desks and chairs in the 21st century classroom. People talk about needing to have furniture (desks and chairs) that have great ergonomics - but as many educators know, students won’t be sitting still in chairs for long and many students find confinement to a set chair and desk as something akin to being in prison.

This scenario creates a great opportunity to re-think what type of furniture could be used in learning spaces. Our experience is that the more a space “feels like their lounge room”, the more students will slide into learning mode as a natural action.

Some excellent resources to spur ‘future’ thinking:

http://www.futureofed.org/forecast/

http://blog.futureofed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020_forecast.pdf

The undercroft area for technology and applied studies learning space - what an outstanding opportunity for creative design play! Also, a few photos of the new sport facility above - thanks the the government’s BER economic stimulus package.

Design Challenge

Challenge: how to best use an unexpected space for design and technology classes; a space created when a sport’s hall (BER funded) was raised up a level?

Answer: create a team of thinkers who will inhabit the space and open their thinking to new thoughts - not by visiting other schools, but by visiting converted warehouses, office spaces stripped back to a ‘raw’ feel, a converted printery and converted railway yards.

Result: (a work in progress) some really creative thinking that will involve layers of acoustic control; highly flexible transparent space dividers; the ability to create learning spaces via the use of a ceiling-mounted track system; maintain high visibility so that the space does not lose its ‘spaciousness’ - would like to be able to “see” right through the space still; IDEA paint panels used as flexible whiteboards on tracks; saturation mobile technolgies; an interior timber balcony near the windows … and lots of anticipation … stay tuned … “watch this space”!!

Tomorrow’s School Today Photoset 3

Tomorrow’s School Today Photoset 2

Tomorrow’s School Today Photoset 1

Tomorrow's School Today

Tomorrow’s School Today is a project of the Sydney Centre for Innovation in Learning - www.scil.com.au

The equation for learning has changed:

180 students + 1 classroom + 6 teachers = improved learning + zero behaviour issues + fun

What needs to change so that learning is more relevant to the 21^st century context?

It needs to look at every aspect of the learning journey with a different ‘pair of glasses’.

If we want to:

- enable the learning experience to be more independent, self-directed, enjoyable, friendly

- establish lifelong learning patterns

- improve learning outcomes

- support the teachers to be comfortable with new ways of doing things

- provide mobile access to information

- integrate curriculum so that the learners can make new connections

- create a community where all are respected and all contribute

Then we need to:

o   alter existing spaces to cater for the new goals

o   create collaborative staff teams to share the journey

o   think in new ways about class sizes, lesson planning and learning experiences

o   saturate the learning environment with digital devices to support the learning

o   allow the change to be led by pedagogy, not technology

Tomorrow’s School Today links space and learning so that students are better prepared for a changing world. In practical terms, it has seen the remodelling of an existing space (the old library) into a purpose-created space for 180 students at Stage 3 level (Years 5 & 6). The six teachers have united into one collaborative team and all work is conducted as a cohesive unit.

A typical day will have 4 learning sessions:

Literacy block - Numeracy block - Integrated Studies (The Journey) - Learning Area Studies (e.g. Italian, PDHPE). The students will have different combinations of teachers depending on their current grouping for literacy, numeracy and their home teacher.

Tomorrow’s School Today has embraced thinking skills development in line with the P21 Framework. http://www.p21.org

For education to find its direction in the twenty first century, there has to be a degree of speculative analysis as to likely patterns in global developments, an appreciation for the impact of new technologies on the learning environment, a willingness to lead activity, an awareness of spatial concepts as relevant to learning and an examination of the types of skills required for innovative thinking.

The P21 framework includes a focus on:

Learning and Innovation Skills

·        Creativity and innovation

·        Critical thinking and problem solving

·        Communication and collaboration

Information, Media and Technology Skills

·        information literacy

·        media literacy

·        ICT literacy

“After more than 3 decades in schools, I have finally seen an approach that truly engages students and personalizes and differentiates their learning. Ironically, the answer does not lie in creating smaller classes, but rather in one class of 180 students; 6 teachers; one flexible space; lots of creative, collaborative teamwork and planning. The result - learning in abundance!” Mr. Stephen Harris, Principal NBCS