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Technology Is Changing the Way Kids Learn
… And the Classrooms in Which They Do It.

Advertising supplement provided by Paxton / Patterson
By Stephen H. Daniels

All This is New, Say Architects

In an effort to improve high school science, math, and technology education teaching and learning, the National Science Foundation sponsored a planning study, the objective of which was to develop criteria, standards, and a process for programming and planning prototype laboratories and support spaces for secondary school instruction. The results of that planning study can be found at www.labplan.com.

 

Badger High School, Lake Geneva, WI

Architects with experience in technology lab design, and award-winners in new high school design were asked these questions:

1. How will the teaching spaces for math, science, computer science, and technology education be different in the next decade?
2. How can the architectural design ensure flexibility for future
   programmatic change?
3. Is there a preferred or ideal process for interacting with school representatives to ensure that the design and resulting facility will support current and future programs and pedagogy?

The responses in full, and the sources of the remarks can be viewed in the required reading for this continuing education section. (Instructions are at the end of this section.) In brief, however, the responses were these:

• we will be seeing more and more industrial technology shops converting to clean technology labs, reducing the need for large machinery and the traditional shop setting.
• schools, once designed as spaces for “passive” learning are changing to meet new demands, and learning spaces must now support a wide variety of learning activities and environments.
• flexibility is a key factor in tech lab design, and classrooms, in most cases, must be larger to accommodate computers and spaced for team-learning.
• furniture must be appropriate for technology integration. The old desk-chair combination will not accommodate the personal computer.
• expensive science “wet labs” are being reduced in number. They are being replaced by “virtual reality” stations in which the computer replaces hands-on experimentation.
• interior bearing walls with small-span columns are an impediment to flexible classroom design; mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems must be flexible enough to permit walls to move to accommodate combined classes and accommodate growth and future program changes, infrastructure must be fluid; cable trays and all technology routes must be accessible.
• redundancy in design of mechanical, electrical and plumbing equipment is critical, spaces must be adaptable to any use.