PSBA conference – The Third Teacher

Since Crabtree, Rohrback and Associates (CRA) is the architectural design firm for our high school building renovation project, it seemed particularly good timing that they had a presentation at the PSBA conference in October. As the basis for much of their thinking, they use The Third Teacher (subtitled, “79 Ways you can use design to Transform Teaching & Learning”) which refers the concept of designing school buildings to be active contributors to the educational environment.

Particularly interesting was their reference to Maslow. Obviously, the first consideration in the design of a school building is in providing shelter and warmth, safety and security - referring to the two bottom layers of the familiar hierarchy. There is a lot of research concerning the impact of insufficient air flow (low oxygen levels), lack of natural lighting, and classrooms that are too hot or cold (we’re familiar with this) on the human capacity for learning.

In a similar vein, they also pay a lot of attention to acoustics: ‘they design for speech and hearing’. Not only is that essential to a modern education, with the increasing emphasis on communications skills, there is a fair amount of research that suggests a significant proportion of special education designations are actually misdiagnosed hearing problems. Mishearing, or having to guess at every third word a teacher says is probably a bigger handicap – and more easily overlooked - than poor vision.

In modern school design, a lot more attention is being paid to uniting the disciplines as opposed to the more traditional departmental (silo) approach, so ‘adjacencies’ within the building are an important consideration.

Another area that is easily overlooked in school design is furniture. I have long maintained that traditional school furniture is a form of torture, but that is changing. Particularly in elementary schools, they suggest that it is time to “make peace with fidgeting.”  It turns out that allowing a certain amount of physical movement is good for the brain, too. 

The book (you are welcome to borrow my copy)  is a fascinating read, with topics ranging from the value of consulting with students on school design, to creating spaces for ‘tinkering’ and the display of student work,  to sustainability, to embracing and engaging the community, with chapters written by Sir Ken Robinson and Howard Gardner, among others.  It is exciting to see this thinking being incorporated into the design of the new State High.  

Their parting quote, courtesy of Albert (Einstein):  “I never teach my students, I only attempt to provide an environment in which they can learn.”