Reimagining healthy minds / healthy bodies
Current research on spaces that positively impact learners
Promoting healthy development in children and youth is accelerated by three key factors working together; equity in education; positive, engaging social connections and high performance learning environments. From social-emotional learning - to health & wellness - to shaping the future of play, creativity and learning in a digital world, this inaugural dialogue organized by the American Institute of Architects – Committee on Architecture for Education’s Research Task Force - brings an interdisciplinary research lens to these global topics in Architecture for Education. In the ‘factory model of education’ days, the topic of healthy development was initially framed as an extent of the medical and physical education domain but not yet imagined as an extension of time spent in the classroom, in the school or the neighborhood. What current and emerging research now reveals is that the places where people learn, work and live can influence healthy development, while also shaping attitudes, behaviors and beliefs that impact learning. Join our conversation with four innovative researchers who explore the environment’s powerful role in learning, teaching and the design of educational spaces and practices in the healthy development of the Whole Child.
John Dale [FAIA] Principal, Studio Leader PreK-12, HED; Dina Sorensen, Associate K-12 Studio VMDO Architects and Caroline Lobo PhD, AIA, Principal suoLL Architects will guide a conversation with:
- Dr. Edith Ackerman, a Visiting Scientist at MIT Media Lab and Honorary Professor of Developmental Psychology, at the University of Aix-Marseille 1, France. Her publications and projects on children's play, learning and creativity have included collaborations with the LEGO Learning Institute and the LEGO Foundation, as well as the Exploratorium Museum of Arts, Science, and Human Perception, in San Francisco.
- Dr. Patrick Tolan, Professor at UVA Curry School of Education and Director of Youth-Nex, a transdisciplinary nexus, focusing on the capabilities of youth in connection to health, communities, schools, and relationships. Patrick’s current research, The Compassionate Schools Project, is a large multi-year group randomized trial in collaboration with the city of Louisville KY and Jefferson County Schools on a compassion based 21st century health and wellness curricular program for elementary schools.
- Dr. Jeri Brittin, Director of Research at HDR Inc, whose approach to health, well-being and learning derives from public health science and is based on a social-ecological framework, pioneered recent research that highlights the critical role K-12 school design plays in physical activity and movement outcomes.
- Dr. Rosie Parnell, Professor - Northumbria University Newcastle UK is a leading researcher on the design of children’s learning spaces and practices that engage children and young people with architecture and the built environment through design participation, architecture education and in teaching which seeks to engage students in directing their own learning.
This event is the first of a series of Research Task Force Dialogues sponsored by the Committee on Architecture for Education. This session will be an in-depth conversation about cutting edge research on learning environments and an opportunity to interact with internationally recognized leaders in this field.
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