DesignShare

Director of Technology at Arapahoe High School in Centennial, Colorado.

If you haven’t yet seen the videos created by Karl, here is your chance. First developed to help his colleagues explore the changing nature of technology and education for our students, these videos have become passed virally around the world by passionate educators who realize the power of Karl’s story-telling device. These videos are meant to help all of us grasp the where our kids are going…and what we need to do to support them.

“You are tasked with creating buildings that will serve the needs of educators and students far into the future. But how do you do that when we are in a time of such rapid change? How can you possibly design a building that will meet future needs when those future needs could be so very different from today’s needs?

The kindergartners that start in the fall of 2007 will graduate in the spring of 2020. As architects of schools, you need to have a 2020 Vision. Your client’s and children’s futures depend upon it…”

“Designing School 2.0: A Study of Philadelphia’s Science Leadership Academy” - Case study by Chris Lehmann, founding Principal of Science Leadership Academy (opened fall, 2006)

Chris Lehmann, the school’s founding principal (and also a 2007 DesignShare Awards jury member) was kind enough to pen a piece that spoke to the pedagogical and design choices that underlie the creation of Philadelphia’s first (if not the US’) version of “School 2.0″. By the way, keep an eye out for an upcoming issue of Edutopia. We’ve heard rumor that they’ve done a wonderful article on the school as well and can’t wait to read it soon!

“The school was to be an inquiry-driven, project-based school where students would be assessed by the work of their own creation.

What was frightening to me was, even with that idea in hand and a lot of experience with progressive curricular design, I had little idea how to make that idea come to life in the physical spaces of the building.”

In this podcast installment, MediaSnackers’ founder, DK, interviews Henry Giroux,, the Global Television Network Chair in English and Cultural Studies at McMaster University in Ontario, Canada.

In this podcast installment, MediaSnackers’ founder, DK, interviews Henry Giroux about emerging views about young people, new media, and how all of us need to shift our ideas if we’re going to support learners in the future.

0.00—0.21 intros
0.22—1.54 representations of youth in mainstream media
1.55—2.32 the investment question
2.33—3.53 relationship between democracy and education
3.54—5.28 emergence of new media to readdress balance
5.29—6.53 places of change
6.54—7.25 public pedagogy
7.26—8.07 production vs deconstruction
8.08—9.00 what has to change
9.01—9.56 the future
9.57—10.11 outro

“Tackling the Crime of School Design” - Book excerpt from Rena Upitis, former Dean of Education at Queen’s University, Kingston, Ontario; currently Professor of Arts Education at Queen’s University.

“Is there a link between crime and schools?

Windowless concrete containers, surrounded by barbed wire fences - looking more like prisons than schools - can hardly be thought of as inviting environments for students. But buildings surrounded by barbed wire certainly bear cultural messages. This paper describes how architecture embeds cultural and educational values, and how schools often send messages about institutional life that are far from nurturing.

The paper includes examples from North America, Europe and Australia - such as a prison built in New South Wales that was converted to a high school, still in operation today. I also introduce three prominent educational approaches associated with early childhood - Montessori, Waldorf, and Reggio Emilia.”

INTERVIEW:

“Reconsidering the Design of Schools through the Lens of Project-Based Learning” - Interview with Bob Pearlman, the Director of Strategic Planning for the New Technology Foundation; former President of the Autodesk Foundation.

“Everyone has been to school or is in school today and few of these past and current environments demonstrate what 21st Century student workplaces should look and feel like. But educators and planners get it quickly when they visit 21st Century schools, talk to students and teachers, and carry their stories home.

Getting the classroom right as the center of learning and students at work is the essential building block for 21st Century Schools.”

EXTENDED AWARDS REGISTRATION DEADLINE: MAY 4TH.

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