Heat Wave

In the midst of finals right now. If you're one of those that think finals for design school should be a piece of cake ("you just draw some stuff, right?"), you are dead wrong. I'll let you measure the bags under my eyes as proof. And to be in the thick of thesis research, scheduling, following up, driving from school to school and interviewing teachers... All of this is pretty exhausting and quite a challenge to pull off when you also have to account for a part-time design job AND being in the process of moving to a new place.

I say all this not to get sympathy, but to set up my main point: Being able to sit down with teachers during their prep time to talk about their classroom, and seeing their face light up when talking about education and children, makes it all worth the stress and the downs I've encountered.

Teachers' Domain: Forum on Modern Media & Web-based *Educatioal* Resources

Join industry media producers, technology experts, scientists, classroom teachers and educators for a day dedicated to the discussion of the relationships these groups have to modern education and 21st century skills.

The all-day event will begin with a keynote address by Edutopia’s Milton Chen, followed by discussion groups lead by representatives from the Discovery Channel, National Geographic, and our own KQED QUEST production staff. Participants will also be able to ask questions of a carefully selected panel composed of scientists, educators, television producers and technology experts.

http://www.eventbrite.com/event/106614888

Interesting. I may check this out, though it sounds more media-focused than anything else. It's a shame, too... that they spelled "Educational" wrong in the title. Hope they change it soon. Shucks, it's one of those things where you need to be critical if you want to be taken seriously, you know? How can people take an education-focused event seriously when you spell "educational" wrong? Tsk tsk tsk.

Busy Busy Busy!

It's been a pretty crazy month or so, to say the least. I have been interviewing teachers and staff at middle schools from all over the bay area. By the end of this school semester, I will have completed the following:

Number of districts visited: 3

Alameda . Oakland . Berkeley

Number of schools visited: 8

Will C. Wood Middle School . Lincoln Middle School
Chipman Middle School . Bret Harte Middle School
Montera Middle School . Claremont Middle School
Longfellow Middle School . Willard Middle School

Number of teachers and staff interviewed: 25-30

*whew*

I am learning so much from each teacher I visit. Every one has their own unique style of teaching, but I am starting to see that there are overarching concerns that teachers have and similar tips and advice that they would give new teachers coming into their own classroom for the first time. A lot of great advice on how to arrange a classroom.

Books I'm Reading...

101 Things I Learned in Architecture School, by Matthew Frederick

"Our experience of an architectural space is strongly influenced by how we arrive in it."

As I think more about the students' and teachers' classroom experiences, I can't help but to imagine what they think and feel when they walk through dark and dingy hallways to get to their classrooms. Though I'm not focusing on the school environment as a whole (that would be too much for a thesis project), it is a realization that not only does a classroom environment affect individual's psyche, but everything down to the dark hallways, and run-down playgrounds play a big part, too.

Tools of Teaching, by Fred Jones

"The key to room arrangement. The most important feature of room arrangement is not where the furniture goes, but, rather, where the furniture does not go. The objective of room arrangement is to create walkways. I do not mean little, narrow walkways. I mean boulevards."

Interesting concept. Of the classrooms that I have visited, many veteran teachers seem to like this solution as well. It's all about being able to access each student easily and quickly.

Check-In

Realized I haven't posted in a while. Things are picking up for me in terms of research. I've been working with my one-on-one directed study advisor, Ryan Henderson, and he's been a big help in prepping me in terms of putting together a detailed plan of action for my thesis, how to approach and interview middle school teachers, and advising me what are the relevant issues I need to consider and look more into.

It's actually been a rather hectic school semester. Balancing classes, thesis, and part-time design work, has been pretty crazy. I've been in and out of middle school classrooms for the past 3 weeks, interviewing teachers and observing classrooms. I've recorded a lot of interviews, and took lots and lots of photos. So far I've been able to cover the Alameda public middle school district. I hope to cover some schools in the San Francisco, Oakland, and Berkeley school district.

I'm also taking a web-design/programming class right now. Learning the CSS ropes. The awesome thing about the class is that my final project gets to be my actual thesis website! So that is already underway, and will hopefully be up in the near future.

Whew... what a semester.

Rather Than "Fixing Kids" - Transform the Environment

Another interesting read. My directed study one-on-one advisor, Ryan Henderson, an instructor in the Interior Architecture & Design department at the Academy of Art University, informed me about this website, TRIBESTLC.COM. Their goal is to create a positive school/classroom environment through improving student behavior and learning. They contend that changing the environment of the school system itself, such as establishing caring and supportive relationships, setting positive and high expectations, and offering opportunities for meaningful participation, will the key to improvement, rather than the traditional approach of "fixing" the children through funding more programs for individual treatment, behavioral control, remedial programs, etc. They say that all these attempts to fix the children are just overwhelming our schools and doing not much else.

Very similar thinking to my thesis project, though I've ventured to hypothesize that even the child's physical environment makes a huge difference the way students will learn.

We'll have to see how my thesis plays out as I do more research and future on-site interviews at public middle schools. In the meantime, check out the article:

Rather than "Fixing Kids" - Transform the Environment

Executive Function Lacking in Children Today

Heard an interesting story on NPR this morning. Somewhat relates to my topic as it pertains to student behavior in classrooms. Kids just can't sit still and concentrate these days. What's the cause? The Mickey Mouse Club. Peaks your interest? It peaked mine.

Here's an excerpt:

It turns out that all that time spent playing make-believe actually helped children develop a critical cognitive skill called executive function. Executive function has a number of different elements, but a central one is the ability to self-regulate. Kids with good self-regulation are able to control their emotions and behavior, resist impulses, and exert self-control and discipline.

We know that children's capacity for self-regulation has diminished. A recent study replicated a study of self-regulation first done in the late 1940s, in which psychological researchers asked kids ages 3, 5 and 7 to do a number of exercises. One of those exercises included standing perfectly still without moving. The 3-year-olds couldn't stand still at all, the 5-year-olds could do it for about three minutes, and the 7-year-olds could stand pretty much as long as the researchers asked. In 2001, researchers repeated this experiment. But, psychologist Elena Bodrova at the National Institute for Early Education Research says, the results were very different.

"Today's 5-year-olds were acting at the level of 3-year-olds 60 years ago, and today's 7-year-olds were barely approaching the level of a 5-year-old 60 years ago," Bodrova explains. "So the results were very sad."

Sad because self-regulation is incredibly important. Poor executive function is associated with high dropout rates, drug use and crime. In fact, good executive function is a better predictor of success in school than a child's IQ. Children who are able to manage their feelings and pay attention are better able to learn. As executive function researcher Laura Berk explains, "Self-regulation predicts effective development in virtually every domain."

Check out the full story:

Old-Fashioned Play Builds Serious Skills

Revolution.Ed – MFA Thesis Project

THE DESIRE
The purpose of this thesis project is to redesign the public middle school classroom environment that would create a more conducive learning environment for the students. Working with already existing structures and space, reorganizing and reinterpreting the space, will hopefully aid teachers lead a more engaging class, and help students learn better.

THE FOCUS
The primary focus will be on the California middle schools (6-8 grades). I will study the way students behave on a cognitive level as well as social level, and observe and interview teachers on teaching styles and their specific needs in a classroom.

With the aid of my Cognitive Science background from UC Berkeley, I will do a comprehensive research on the psychology behind 6-8 grade student learning. In addition to scientific research, I will observe classroom behavior on-site in multiple classrooms. Teachers will also be interviewed to get a sense of what they feel are lacking in classrooms, and to discover their specific needs in order to provide a more productive learning environment for the students. I will also seek out their suggestions and advice as to how they have produced a successful environment for learning — furniture arrangement, organizational structure, and overall interior design structure of the classroom.

Through all of the research, I hope to gather all the findings and put it into a comprehensve guide that can be easily accessible and read. It will come in book form and website form, which allows for new material, research, suggestions, and tips for teachers to implement in their classrooms. The website form will also be a location where teachers can share with one another tried-and-true tips that others can benefit from in their own classrooms. Case studies will also appear to show first-hand the classroom setting, how the suggested tips can be applied, and resulting outcomes.

THE DELIVERABLES
- Book with research findings, infographics and in-class images, geared towards teachers
- Website detailing information in book, and online community/discussion forum where teachers can discuss and share ideas, opinions, and tips
- Printed collateral to advertise book and updated news in the form of postcard mailing and newsletters
- Example posters and wall art for one school subject (i.e. math, science, history, etc.) as a case study

MFA Graphic Design Thesis Project
Academy of Art University
San Francisco, CA