What makes a great 21st Century Classroom?Term: Spring 2013
No. Teachers: 6 (ZH, DS, LJ, HB, JB, RF) No. Students: 75 Number of Hours: 28 What was the brief? Students were asked to work in groups of three to come up with a pitch for the design of a 21st Century classroom in our new school and present to the architect of our School, Art Konig from A Studio Practice. At the time, we were situated in a temporary building overlooking the main building site whilst it was in construction/refurbished. What were the assessed outcomes? To accompany their architectural pitch, each group produced a design rationale, scale model of their design, CAD drawings, an inventory and budget of furnishings along with an essay about their ideal school. Examples of outcomes can be viewed by clicking on the Flickr album link below. What did the students learn? In the initial stages of the project, students were introduced to traditional and progressive models of education to understand how the term '21st Century Education' came about. They also explored the different needs of learners and considered the wishes of parents and the community in what they want from a school for their children. In a series of practical workshops, they learnt basic skills linked to being an architect such as perspective drawing, model making and SketchUp, which is computer-aided design (CAD) software. At one point, we all visited the site to have a recce of the building, take photos and visit the proposed location. How was it exhibited? After pitching ideas to staff, four groups were shortlisted to present to the architect of our new school, Art Konig, and our Headteacher Peter Hyman. There was then a final exhibition in which parents and visitors were invited to come and listen to all the students pitch their ideas and present their products. Visitors, staff and students were given our own customised currency (see images) which they were asked to hand over to the students directly as a form of feedback. At the end, they cashed them in with us for small prizes. A shameless, capitalist tactic but surprisingly effective in helping them showcase their oracy skills! What did you learn from doing this project? This was the first whole year project that we tried to develop based on the Innovation Unit's REAL project criteria and in consultation with a secondee from High Tech High. One of the key elements of a REAL project is to develop a product that is based within a real world situation and, although we had a professional client, the products were only prototypes and the actual room was not constructed. Nevertheless, the processes the students went through were very meaningful and many skills learnt were applied to make a successful final pitch. The other steep learning curve was having to collaborate with a team of five other teachers, which inevitably led to a great deal of dialogue and coordination. As a result of this complexity, we now collaborate in pairs, which makes planning and scheduling easier. I would do this project again, but want to develop it around a final space that could be built by the students. I imagine that it would make an interesting two term project with the first stage being a design tender process and then a construction phase. |
Example of Student Pitch (Please email me to request password)
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