Tag Archives: science building design

What Goes Around, Comes Around

In the early 1990′s many middle and high schools
Typical Tech Lab
began converting their industrial arts shops into “tech labs” in which the power tools, sawdust and grease of the vocational programs were replaced by computers, student work stations, and canned technology courseware. This was based on the rationalization that, since America is moving from an [...]

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The Furniture of Science

Changes in the way teachers teach science have given rise to a new generation of designs for science classrooms and new approaches to furnishing those classrooms.
An increasing preference for hands-on science instruction has created the need for science laboratories in middle schools, as well as K-5 classrooms.
While the lower grades have begun to employ more [...]

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The Science Resource Area in the State-of-the-Art High School

It appears that science education is moving more and more toward individual and small-group, hands-on projects and away from the “sage on the stage” lecture and “one size fits all” laboratory projects. The Thomas Haney Centre in Maple Ridge, British Columbia (Canada) operates on Individual study plans for each student, requiring that a student demonstrate [...]

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Planning the Middle School Science Classroom

A significant portion of the middle school science curriculum should be inquiry based, and the facilities provided to serve this curriculum must support this approach.

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Q&A With James Biehle

If you go solely on the basis of all the schools that a particular architectural firm has done, then you don’t know whether that particular architectural firm has designed good new science facilities or whether personalitywise they can work with the people in the school district. There are a number of almost equally valid issues that he school district ought to look at.

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Designing High School Science Facilities

A major principle of good science facilities planning is to avoid building for a single curricular model. Since continued change in educational trends is inevitable, any plans for science space should allow as much flexibility as possible to avoid the expense and considerable inconvenience of reconfiguring the space later.
Traditionally, the high school program, served [...]

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Science Facilities by Design

Due to the basic nature of science, science classrooms and laboratories are among the most hazardous instructional areas in the school environment, so safety for those who will be using the facilities should be a prominent concern for facility planners. The planning team should give specific attention not only to the design of the facilities but also to the establishment of emergency procedures.

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High School Science Resource Area

Fixed, designated-subject science labs may become dinosaurs. Perhaps a large, flexible student project space, somewhat like the example at South Carroll High School in Carroll County, MD could be combined with a number of other support spaces to provide the appropriate learning environment for science.

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Tomorrow’s Science in Yesterday’s Buildings

Many high school science classrooms, including those recently designed and/or renovated, are not equipped for 21st-century science. Typical problems with existing facilities include insufficient space, overcrowded classrooms, designs that limit a teacher’s ability to supervise the class, no separation of lab and lecture functions, inadequate storage, no preparation space or individual/small group project space, no faculty office space, and violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA).

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Six Science Labs for the 21st Century

“America will rank first in science and mathematics by the year 2000.”
These lofty-sounding words are part of Goals 2000, the federal Educate America Act. The turn of the century is fast approaching, but we’ve barely made a start in responding to this mandate. Though science supervisors, district officials and architects are scrambling to create better [...]

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