Paul,
I just read a research study regarding how classroom design affects the academic progress of kids ages 5-11. This study was conducted in England, so the curriculum is a bit different, but it examined 10 environmental design factors that have a significant role in how children progress from the beginning to the end of the school year. The study has a fairly good range of building age (one going back to ca. 1880) but does not indicate condition quality such as "poor" or "excellent". But it does correlate factors such a lighting, air quality, visual stimulation (color and complexity), ownership, flexibility, and links-to-nature with performance. It identifies which classroom design factors are most effective for performance in three areas of academics: reading, writing, and math. It concludes that these factors combined may have as much as a 10% impact on improving performance progress and cites another study concluding the impact may be as much as 16% on performance progress.
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Mike
Michael S. Nowak, AIA, NCARB, CPHC, NCIDQ
Ph.D. Candidate
Department of Architecture
Pennsylvania State University
107 Stuckeman Family Building
University Park. PA 16802
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Original Message:
Sent: 08-24-2018 13:08
From: Paul Breiner
Subject: Learning Environment Studies
Does anyone have any resources (studies, articles, books) that relate to the idea that condition of a classroom room affects the academic success of the students?
I have recently started working in small, rural school districts with buildings that are 60+ years old, some of them literally crumbling. However, when trying to garner public support for a new building, addition, and/or renovation, we have met resistance that based on the idea that building is "good enough." I would like to arm myself with some knowledge that school administrators can use as talking points.
Thanks!
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Paul Breiner AIA
Project Architect
Ackerman Estvold
Minot ND
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