Architecture should be the ‘third teacher’: creating the right campus sets the right tone for our students’ learning.
——Professor Anna Sohmen Pao
Pao School is dedicated to improving its physical facilities and campuses. It understands that upgrading the built environment is indispensable to any world-class school. Integral to this mission is the consideration of design and layout. A setting that ignites student curiosity, promoting intellectual exploration, enhances the learning experience and deepens educational engagement.
A
t the start of the new school year, the elementary school campus introduced a ‘Primary School Physical Environment Guide,’ which aims to clarify design and layout principles for the school’s physical learning environment. This guide promotes student autonomy and sense of ownership through the strategic placement of materials and items in the classrooms, while underscoring educational values, and fostering confidence in academic achievement.
The Guide also offers comprehensive instructions for teachers on the specific design and layout of the physical environment, delineating the essential characteristics that an engaging learning space should embody. It promotes student autonomy in accessing resources, expressing opinions, and developing organizational skills, such as labeling and storing supplies efficiently. It recommends the use of natural materials and soft colors to boost student focus, while aligning with sustainability principles of ‘reuse, reduce, recycle’. From a cognitive perspective, it focuses on making student thinking and learning visible as students read the room. Finally, it emphasizes the raising of aesthetic standards, the promotion of creativity, and the merging of traditional Chinese culture with a global outlook, in order to cultivate a learning environment that sparks intellectual growth based upon a profound appreciation for cultural diversity and heritage.
At the start of the semester, during their initial teacher training, teacher partners participated in group discussions, pondering the layout of their individual classrooms
The physical environment extends beyond classrooms, to encompass corridors and display boards across the campus, which are all integral to the learning space. The guide offers recommendations for the design of display boards, which involve the visualization of the learning process, engaging student interest in key concepts, introducing, summarizing, or reinforcing knowledge, skills, and concepts. This promotes a culture of thinking that will link to future learning, showcasing student accomplishments and endeavors, and encouraging collaboration and curiosity for shared growth.
In addition to the principles outlined in the guide, and complementing them, teachers gathered in professional learning communities to observe spaces around the school. This experience, termed ‘Ghost Walk’ by educational researcher Ron Ritchhart enables teachers to explore the physical space of a school when students are not present to understand the kinds of thinking and learning that are valued. Facilitated by the Professional Development team, led by Diana Zuo, Director of Teaching and Learning, teachers investigate classrooms and the corridor, utilizing the ‘See, Think, Wonder’ routine to reflect on displays and then offer feedback on them. Each group visits multiple areas to generate a comprehensive response. The session concludes with gathering in cohort communities, encouraging teachers to review feedback they contributed to, and to make commitments to enhance the invitational quality or vibe of the physical learning environment and develop a culture of thinking which includes immediate surroundings.
Inside a newly renovated Year 1 classroom, students are finishing up independent learning before getting ready to go home.
