Scholars argue that working on relevant, place-based, and cognitively accessible environmental problems is the most effective way to foster a child’s sense of agency, which has been shown to be an important element in motivating individuals’ commitment to environmental behavior. Moreover, in order to combat the feelings of disempowerment that young people often feel in reaction to environmental problems, they need opportunities to participate in sustainability practices that positively impact their local community. Indeed, children may feel better about the state of the environment if they are given more opportunities to engage in environmental stewardship and civic responsibility within their schools, neighborhoods and homes. As such, increased efforts to include children’s participation in communal environmental analysis, problem-solving, and planning may not only help children feel more empowered to participate in the call for sustainability, but may also increase children’s commitment to lifelong environmental stewardship.
Although sustainability encompasses social and economic issues in addition to environmental issues, the focus of this session is on fostering environmental behaviors (particularly related to energy use in buildings) in youth through classroom curricula.
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Ultimately Sustainable: A Virtual Tour of An Optimal Learning Environment
The optimal learning environment of the 21st century is a totally integrated sustainable and complex organism. It is space or a place that incorporates systems for the adaptable education modalities of the present and the future while providing a healthy, energy efficient and delightful environment that demonstrates stewardship of the earth and her resources.
Any constructed space in a school experienced by a student and teacher has SIX PLANES + the natural environment it is connected to. Each plane provides opportunities for features that support education and incorporate sustainable attributes. SLATERPAULL Architects and team will demonstrate through the use of a 3D model the key components of the ultimate sustainable learning environment. We will lead an interactive discussion during the simulated construction of the optimal learning environment for the 21st century. Throughout the presentation we will share actual examples from recent projects to demonstrate how this complex model can help guide design teams and school districts to make decisions that contribute towards creating truly sustainable learning environments.
Our goal is to totally engage the audience in a journey of possibilities. We believe school districts, facilities planners and PK-12 architects should consider and participate in such an exercise prior to designing and building their next school. It is a way to grasp the complexity of a high performing and sustainable project and could give them the resources they need to ask the right questions before the project becomes brick and mortar. This is true for new “ground-up” projects as well as additions and renovations to existing schools.
Presenters:
Peggy Kinsey
Wendy Wheaton
Lyn Eller
Pete Jefferson |
