Knowledge Quest on the Web:
September/October 2002
Special full-text reprint with embedded links of the "Homepage" column
"Facility Dreams"
exclusively on KQWeb
Facility Dreams
Debbie Abilock, Editor
One of the finest teachers I know worked as maintenance director at a summer camp. When asked why, he explained that the curriculum is determined by the physical facility. Summer was a chance for him, an architect-turned-educator, to experiment, be liberated from excessive rules and red tape, and design structures that would reinvigorate his teaching and the learning that occurred in his mixed-grade, preK-1 classroom each fall.
In that spirit I began to imagine some physical experiments I would suggest if I were building a K-8 school library that would support inquiry-based, authentic learning for students and collaboration among staff. Since such learning often begins with teams of students brainstorming and analyzing the parameters of their investigation, I visualized clusters of tables with room for print material and laptops in docking stations with large-screen monitors, full-sized keyboards, and optical mice. With large locking wheels on the tables and lightweight, stackable chairs, the clusters could be ungrouped and other laptops added, allowing team members to move from group work to individual accountability within the same space.
Next I began picturing how a space could be designed to support authentic research processes. We know that information is wherever you find it’in books, media, online, and from experts. The library would reflect that eclectic approach, preserving content adjacencies regardless of media type. As in a supermarket, there should be ways to allow a team of students to gather materials for projects, swing by to get a laptop or two, and return with their ‘shopping cart’ to a workspace. Connecting with local experts means access to a telephone and the yellow pages. Reaching distant experts means access to an e-mail account and the Internet. We’ve got to strike a better balance between our legitimate charge to supervise students and their genuine need to locate expertise, if we hope to accomplish our ultimate goal, that of creating independent, self-directed citizens in a democratic society.
Then I asked myself, ‘What would a creative production and communication space look like?’ Several years ago I was invited to speak to the faculty at a well-known, technology-rich school. In my visits to classrooms, I saw one student group after another creating PowerPoint-less projects.1 In contrast, the facility that I imagined announces that the tools of engaged learning and thinking are rich and varied. Young children and, in fact, real-world investigators shift back and forth among their intellectual and creative tools: through experimenting, researching, organizing, and drafting. A facility must allow them to move recursively among raw materials and various processes – from observing and recording data (fish tanks and plants, temperature probes and handhelds, force gauges and voltmeters, digital cameras, spreadsheets, online lab sheets), to organizing their thoughts (online resource collection tools synchronized with citation software and tools for digital note taking, webbing, or charting), to continuing their teamwork in the evening at home (threaded discussions, instant messages, telephones, online collaborative environments), and finally to constructing their projects (fabrication area with Lego blocks, tools, wood, foam core, clay, production media, digital converters and productivity software, microphones, camcorders). Such adjacencies speak of authentic inquiry, creative thinking, and experimentation.
Finally, if our goal is to create independent, self-directed learners, our physical spaces should echo the belief that children can function with some independence. For example, when my school moved to laptops, our library’s twelve stationary computers were supplemented by an additional sixteen laptops from a mobile cart when demand grew heavy. Requests for computer assistance and questions about projects and procedures multiplied, demanding all hands on deck. I can imagine creating a teacher-collaboration space, close to collaborative student clusters, that would offer librarians and teachers the ability to monitor without hovering. Staff could continue planning and assessing their assignment as it evolved while providing ongoing feedback to students as needed, responding quickly to their questions. A collaborative adult space signals a working home for our teaching partnerships as we model the teaming we ask of our students.
These are just one person’s dreams. More valuable, this issue of Knowledge Quest contains practical advice from a group of recognized authorities.
The ideas of your students and teachers, the thoughtful planning of your design team, and the expertise of your architects and consultants can be supplemented by excellent online resources. For example, the Web page on libraries and media centers at the National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities is regularly updated and contains print references and online resource links.2 Allow yourself the luxury of exploring Design Share’s floor plans, site maps, and photos.3
While there, be sure to read ‘Freedom and Creativity’ as well as ‘Design Features of Project-Based Learning’ with its chart of design needs for a project-based learning environment.4 Investigate the North Central Regional Education Laboratory’s support tool for school technology and facilities decisions, ‘Building the 21st Century Library,’ and the Maine School Library Facilities handbook, which contains square footage charts for common library areas, adjusted for schools of different sizes.5 Use the ‘Impact of Technology on School Facility Design’ from the North Carolina Public Schools to help you with the space requirements for personal computers, layouts, electrical and cooling requirements, configuration of distance learning labs, network wiring, and storage closets for servers.6 If you are just beginning as a school librarian, consider reading the foundational books by Erikson and Markuson, and by Baule.7 Last, consider the implications of the research on human behavior (personal space, territoriality, privacy, variety, and color) that are relevant to media center design.8
In the process of assembling this issue of Knowledge Quest with coeditor Steve Baule, I have realized that every school librarian considers himself or herself an expert on poor library design. Opinions on what works rest on deep-seated philosophical beliefs and values. When thorough, the design process will clarify your school’s unexamined values and build a library facility that can support the teaching and learning goals that your school community holds dear.
References
1 Jamie McKenzie, ‘Scoring Power Points,’ From Now On’ The Educational Technology Journal (Sept. 2000), <http://fno.org/sept00/powerpoints.html>. Accessed 14 July 2002.
2 National Clearinghouse for Educational Facilities, ‘Resource Lists’ Libraries/Media Centers,’ 12 July 2002, <http://www.edfacilities.org/rl/libraries.cfm>. Accessed 14 July 2002.
3 Randall Fielding, Design Share Newsletter, 3 July 2002, <http://www.designshare.com>. Accessed 14 July 2002.
4 Bruce A. Jilk, ‘Freedom and Creativity,’ Design Share Newsletter, Jan. 2002, <http://www.designshare.com/Research/Jilk/Freedom/Free_Create.htm>. Accessed 14 July 2002. Susan J. Wolff, ‘Design Features of Project-Based Learning,’ Design Share, Jan. 2002, <http://www.designshare.com/Research/Wolff/Project_Learning.htm>. Accessed 14 July 2002.
5 North Central Regional Education Laboratory, ‘Building the 21st Century Library,’ 10 Apr. 2001, <http://archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/idt>. Accessed 14 July 2002. Maine Association of School Libraries, ‘Maine School Library Facilities Handbook,’ 1999, <http://www.maslibraries.org/about/facilities/preface.html>. Accessed 14 July 2002.
6 School Planning, North Carolina Department of Public Instruction, ‘Impact of Technology on School Facility Design': July 2000, <http://www.schoolclearinghouse.org/pubs/ImpactofTechnology.PDF>. Accessed 14 July 2002.
7 Rolf Erikson and Carolyn Markuson, Designing a School Library Media Center for the Future (Chicago: ALA, 2001); Steve M. Baule, Facilities Planning for Scool Library Media and Technology Centers (Worthington, Ohio: Linworth, 1999.)
8 Carol A. Doll, ‘School Library Media Centers’ The Human Environment,’ School Library Media Research Online (summer 1992),<http://www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR/slmr_resources/select_doll.html>. Accessed 14 July 2002.
Debbie Abilock, editor of Knowledge Quest, writes, speaks and consults on curriculum, new literacies and school libraries. She is the co-founder of NoodleTools, Inc.
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