By Kate Mraw
Design Director, LPA Design Studios
A desire to understand the influence of school design on the growth of early childhood learners brought together thought leaders from around the country during February’s Association for Learning Environments (A4LE) Conference in Austin. Increased funding for preschools, new research and innovative learning environments were all part of the discussion, as members explored new ideas and design strategies.
The conference was organized to foster a conversation about how design can better support rapidly evolving Early Childhood Education (ECE) pedagogies. Thanks to an increasing body of research, we now have a greater understanding for the importance of supporting learners in their early years and the influence it will have on their later years. According to a 2018 study by the Education Commission of the States, of the 2.5 million students who dropped out of high school last year, 1.6 million were set on that trajectory when they were only eight years old.
How we guide and educate early learners influences their future success. These days, we really don’t know what careers these students might pursue in their future. The accelerating pace of change in technology, climate, and workplaces makes for a less predictable future. What we do know is that we can rally around certain guiding design principles to help shape more effective ECE learning environments that better prepare them for the educational road ahead.
For example, we know design must support innovation, compassion and resiliency. Learning to emphasize nature-based, play-based, and place-based learning centers was a common thread between many of our speakers. We need to give learners space to create their own settings and explore their own ideas. It’s important to design for imagination. If you give a child a slide or a swing, they know what to do, because their primary uses are defined by their forms. But if you give them a tree stump or a stick, imagine the possibilities - they imagine a fort, a ship or a horse, because you’ve given them the tools to create their own solutions…this loose-parts play is how we develop innovative leaders for our future.
Author and educational consultant Sandra Duncan, EdD encouraged attendees to really develop the classroom layout through a child’s eyes. In most early childhood classrooms, there are “stations” that create an inflexible space. Instead, offer an open, flexible space providing the opportunity to delimit and decentralize the activity. Eliminating the “writing station” or the “art station” in favor of a more fluid design affords students more choice and voice in their educational setting. It starts to build their confidence and collaboration skills that these learners will depend on later in their educational and certainly, professional careers.
Design and educational vision can dramatically impact both civic authorship and social negotiation skills for early learners. Katherina A. Payne, pHD is an Assistant Professor of Curriculum & Instruction at the University of Texas at Austin. Payne’s research considers the intersections of civic education, elementary and early childhood schooling as well as teacher education. Across these areas, she examines the role of relationships, community and justice to transform classrooms into child-centered, democratic and equitable spaces. What this means for design is certainly closely related to furniture and how students work together. Young learners are starting to understand the value of collaboration, negotiation, and stewardship.
Spaces designed for collaboration were a frequent part of the discussion at the conference, as educators, researchers and designers shared their experiences and lessons learned. David A. Stubbs II, founder and CEO of Cultural-Shift, presented the story of the LPA-designed Eastwood Elementary School in Irvine, California. His research and continued involvement with post occupancy engagement shows how furniture plays a key role in the design strategies of the school. Spaces were designed for certain behaviors including collaboration, digital learning and project-based learning, but because they weren’t overly prescribed, students have the latitude to navigate their uses in different, often more creative ways.
Students need room to grow and be creative. And they need room for gross motor expression for educators who use movement-based learning, like music and dance. That’s why agility in the furniture is important. Just making it moveable doesn’t necessarily make it agile.
We can’t underestimate the impact of joy in the learning environment, nor can we dismiss the impact, and the difference, between place and space. Duncan shared that, while space emphasizes physical features, place is important because our memories connect with place in emotional and lasting ways. Our goal is to create joyous, lasting impressions of place through design. And that should include nature—water and the outdoors—which plays into our deepest, most joyful memories.
Students emotionally connect to subjects when they’re learning through joy. When you transition to play-based learning, it’s not about the product that they’re creating, but about the process through which they’re creating it. It’s not only important in early childhood education, this concept is relevant at any level. Questions like, how did you innovate? How did you work with a partner and collaborate? How were you resilient by taking risks in that activity? All contribute to a successful learning experience.
Dr. Julie Z. Cramer shared that we have a great opportunity to create authentic learning experiences where students can discover what they want to know and do, and who they want to be. Responsive learning environments can help students develop the self-assurance to pursue the opportunities and find their own place in the world. Dr. Cramer, founder of Wayfind Education, is doing extensive research in place-based learning, which is an effective way to personalize learning, grow social networks and promote contribution to community and the environment. Providing students with instructional activities grounded in where they live builds a sense of identity, agency, and a motivation to learn. Dr. Cramer’s research shows that when early learners learn through the lens of their culture, community and context, they become much more empathetic and compassionate to other cultures later in life.
Our goal of enhancing the learning environment can be informed through research and understanding. Over and over, we see how emotional it is for learners to go from just experiencing a space, to really being part of that place. To have a deep experience, users need to connect with their emotions and the senses. That can be done with outdoor environments, natural materials, daylighting, biophilic design, and by creating different scales and variety in the environment.
When we talk about the scale of learning spaces, we understand that space shapes behavior, and then focus on that truth through the eyes of a child. The design is affected by how they view daylight from their level; the scale of the furniture; how much emphasis traditionally. is put on instructor space. Look for opportunities to give learners more authorship in their own space to help them build confidence.
Finally, we can learn so much by asking students what they want and how they experience their space. Principal Eliza Loyola, of Menchaca Elementary School in Austin ISD, shared how her students contributed to the design, how they have acted as change agents and how they are personalizing the space in their new facility. A lot can be attributed to research around brain development, and we will continue to understand more about neuroscience and the connection to physical space; this conference certainly set the stage to learn more. Design that influences early childhood education can have a more lasting influence on future generations than we ever realized.
