Tools for Transformation

Funded Proposals

The Build-a-School-Community Case Study

College of Architecture, Center for Education, Environment, and Design Studies (CEEDS)

This project utilizes a case study approach to develop a model in which university faculty and students can work in partnership with K-12 schools to maximize the educational benefits of constructing a new facility. We are interested in whether children's appropriation of their school environment--through participation in design, construction, and management activities--can enhance their academic and social development, while also improving school safety and sense of community. The study site is the Tukwila Elementary School, where a new facility is under construction.

Using the construction as a catalyst for encouraging integrative approaches to learning and community-building, we will

• Prepare interdisciplinary teams of university students to help K-12 teachers utilize the physical environment as an instructional text,
• Undertake a college-wide Charrette (design intensive) to create a plan for involving children and adults in designing a space at the case study site,
• Evaluate the changes that occur at the case study site as a result of a curriculum and community-building intervention,
• Produce multi-media tools documenting the process, and
• Expand dialogue within the university on K-12 education to include the environment.

CEEDS is comprised of fifteen faculty members from eight academic units who seek to build theory linking the environment--physical and sociocultural--to learning and community well-being. The project not only addresses the university’s goals of interdisciplinary collaboration and the establishment of K-12 partnerships, but it also helps prepare university students for informed public service.

Tools for Transformation Funded Proposals

The Provost's Office
provost@u.washington.edu
Modified: December 15, 1999