EDUCATING FOR SUSTAINABILITY: PARTICIPATING APPROACH TO REDEVELOPMENT OF SCHOOL GROUNDS
KONSTANDIA TAMOUTSELI
Agronomist AUTh, Landscape Architect Mphil, Dr of Pedagogics,
Advisor on Environmental Education, Lecturer DUTh Department of Agriculture
Kallidou 88 55131 Thessaloniki
GREECE
Abstract:- According to current child-centered educational trends that view the environment as one of the factors of the educational process, open spaces are regarded as places of learning. They contribute to the creation of the sense of space for the young, which influences the identity of space, which in turn influences their personal identity, through which they will formulate as adults their attitude towards environment. The applied reform proposal presented here constitutes a paradigm of a design based on educational principles and on an ecological procedure in landscape design. Its aim is to formulate an alternative proposal for the design of open space at preschool settings based on a participating approach which can contribute to the development of environmental ethics and the promotion of a sustainable future
Key-Words: environment, educational principles, educational tool, alternative –ecological design, school grounds, participating design, sustainable future
1 Introduction
According to Agenda 21, to promote sustainable development at international level, we must encourage social participation in the management of the environment at local level. Education can contribute to the promotion of a sustainable future if it embraces the principles and practices of all citizens' participation in the planning and management of the environment in every part of the world [1]..
The school environment is the immediate environment the care and management of which can contribute to the development of citizenship. Moreover, according to current child-centered educational trends that view the environment as one of the factors of the educational process, school grounds are regarded as places of learning[2,3]. Τhey also have their own hidden curriculum [4,5]. They contribute to the creation of the sense of space for the young, which influences the identity of space, which in turn influences their personal identity through which they will formulate their future attitudes towards environment[6].
The prevailing Greek style of open school space is an aesthetically and biologically barren setting. School grounds are sterile places completely devoid of imagination, they offer no educational stimulus, do not inspire the love of nature, nor do they cultivate environmental conscience[7].
Considering the above, we developed an environmental education project for the redevelopment of school grounds based on a participating approach. Our choice of topic aimed at activating the whole school community (children, parents, teachers) as well as the local authorities and landscape design experts in common action and collaboration for locating, exploring, formulating and implementing a working plan for improving the grounds of a preschool setting[8].
The applied reform proposal presented here constitutes a paradigm of a participatory action plan for the redevelopment of school grounds through an environmental education project. It is also an approach to design, based on educational principles and on an ecological procedure in landscape architecture.
2. Aims of the project
The aims of this project were to:
1. encourage pupils to cooperate and work in groups (cooperative learning)
2. improve the aesthetic and functional quality and secure the safety of the school grounds
3. promote children’s awareness and care for the school environment as well as for the local environment by involving them in the redevelopment process, a process that could eventually contribute to the development of environmental ethics and citizenship in children[9].
4. enhance children’s creativity, promote their cooperative, problem solving, and research skills and develop, in particular, their ability to collect, analyse and present data
5. create an appealing outdoor environment which can serve as a paradigm of alternative outdoor space design to the local community
The outcomes were that:
1. the whole school community (teachers, parents, pupils) was engaged in a common project
2. the school opened up to the local community as well as to the local authorities
3. with their involvement in the project, children were able to appreciate the process of environmental design and the human role in it
4. by creating flexible “micro-environments” in the outdoor school setting, teachers were able to support co-operative methods of teaching and learning
3. The method
Data collection was based on the use of a combination of methodological tools from psychology, architecture, education and social psychology [10]. Information was drawn from children through the graphic interview technique. Children were shown a series of 15 colour slides, showing a range of landscapes which were or could conceivably be part of their school grounds since the photographs demonstrated can provide meaningful guidance to environmental preferences. In the discussion that followed, children were invited to remark about things they liked and disliked as well as about their favourite pictures and things they would like to do in their favourite places. Then, children were given a plan of their school grounds and were asked to draw what they considered as the perfect school ground so that their preferred play activities could be facilitated. Due to the children’s young age (preschool children), the graphic interview was chosen considering young children’s richness of graphic descriptions as compared to the limitations of verbal expression [11]. Data included the examination and analysis of characteristics of the school grounds (positive and negative) and behavior problems related to these, desired ways of its use, the children's, parents' and educators' perceptions of school grounds, aiming at the final formulation of a proposal for transformation plan. This proposal was presented to all interested groups and to the local authorities. The transformation proposal was then formulated into a design which is presented in this paper. This design was finalised after repeated discussions and presentations of the proposed plans among experts, local authorities, children and staff. In particular, a special day was organized during which the professionals presented the final plans of the project to the participating children and teachers and discussed their comments and suggestions. After their approval, the plan was presented to the parent council and the local authorities.
The whole project was funded totally by the local authorities and will be used as an example for redevelopment for the rest of the schools of the area.
4. The design
The architecture of outdoors educational settings interprets into space the educational options promoted by the institutional framework of education and the socio-economic and cultural features of the society where the child is expected to integrate and has to adjust[12,13]. It could, therefore, be considered that the design of the open school space and the function of the natural environment proposed through it constitute for the child a significant source of information for the dominant perspective regarding the significance of nature, while, at the same time, it defines the form of the desired man-nature relationship that society seeks to promote through school[14]. One of the aims of this project was the reversal of the negative man-nature relationship through the architectural intervention of the kindergarten reform.
In drawing their desired grounds, children depicted their personal experiences from playing in nature. It seems that the pleasure the child derives when playing in the natural environment is associated with his/her tendency to imagine natural elements as play parts. An implication clearly arising from children’s drawings is that, regardless of gender, children do have ideas about the design of their environment and they prefer their school grounds mainly as nature areas with the presence of some permanent traditional play structures. Moreover, the school staff sees the school ground as a viable educational habitat, where children are able to learn the lessons of nature on a daily basis. The children’s and the teachers’ ideas and preferences constituted the basis of the design formulated by experts in this project.
4.1 Educational aims of the design
Among the educational aims of the design were to
-promote a school attitude friendly to both nature and pupils and a school ethos respectful to the environment and the pupils.
-enhance the role of open school space as an educational tool and relate it directly to the formal/informal and hidden curriculum.
-meet both the educators’ and pupils’ needs for a better environment as well as the need to open the school to the local community.
-be beneficial to pupils in terms of behavior, attitude, and performance.
-support various teaching approaches like cooperative and experiential learning.
-contribute to the child’s aesthetic development and appreciation of beauty in nature.
-provide a variety of stimuli that can kindle the child’s imagination, creativity and expressivity.
-support various types of play (fantasy-creative) for the child’s whole development.
-increase the child’s bonds with nature.
-provide opportunities for horticultural activities that teach values of discipline, cooperation, hard work, self-reliance experiential and ecological competence[15].
-support social development
4.2. Environmental aims
Among the environmental aims of the design were to
-avoid to reproduce built environment in open space.
-contribute to the improvement of urban environment.
-offer a paradigm of nature friendly landscape design for the neibourhood
.
-create various biotopes to protect urban fauna.
-use nature friendly materials with low energy embodied in them (wood, stone) as well as earth landscaping for space organization .
4.3. The design proposal
The design proposal presented here is an alternative plan for outdoor preschool settings, where space organization and structures may support various forms of play and educational activities in most content areas, such as sciences, language, mathematics, expressive arts, etc. Such preschool settings are characterized by flexibility, diversity and complexity and can be used in a variety of ways. Their diversity allows for easy reform or replacement according to the educational targets and priorities [16].
Figure 2 shows an overview of the master plan. Next to the entrance, situated on the west side of the school, a wooden pergola shelter is placed. It is furnished with a sitting bench providing a waiting space for parents. A drinking fountain of traditional design is built next to it. To support horticultural activities, a slightly raised garden bed is built (6) with stone edges placed at a height of 25 cm so that children also can sit.
Small semi enclosure areas are created to give privacy yet allow for unobtrusive supervision. These are bordered with varied vegetation and surfaced with different paving (brick, flat pebbles or sawn logs). The round shape secret enclosure in (4) is set aside from the main pedestrian traffic flow in order to minimize disturbance to children’s play. It is paved with pebbles and furnished with sitting wooden logs to serve for hiding, privacy enjoyment, withdrawal from the hustle and bustle of play, contemplation or private discussion, small group exchanges during play, observation of nature near at hand, touching, tasting, smelling or listening to soft immediate or distant sounds, and absorbing the patterns of moving shadows. Next to the secret enclosure, an outdoor classroom, facing the main pedestrian movement, is created with wooden logs arranged in two semi circle rows slightly apart from each other to serve also for motor skill activities, social interaction, and control of body movement. Ιn (6), a sand pit is suggested, bordered with chestnut logs of 20cm diameter and 50cm height that, apart from retaining the sand, serve for sitting and supporting motor and balance activities. Ground landscaping of a small grass planted circular mound (3) is created with easy gradient 30% to separate the sandpit from the transition zone between indoor and outdoor play areas and also serve for motor activities, gravity testing and look outs.
A small amphitheatre is designed (2) to blend with and maximize use of the environment. It is surrounded by heavy planting to add atmosphere to the space, to buffer a high concrete retaining wall marking the grounds border while offering shade and also limiting the children’s running over the area.
Two low bridged platforms are built around existing tree trunks at a height of 45cm to be used as an outdoors table for play or for telling and listening to stories. Car tires filled with sand are set around one platform for both safety reasons and play structures. A ‘sensory garden’ is set in a maze pattern planted with herbs and scented plants to support motor, orientation and sensory activities. A vegetation tunnel formed with wooden pergola and climbers at a height of 1.50m (1) is planned to add interest and joy to the pathway running around the building, suggesting a variety of movement and feelings.
On the back side of the building runs a path forming a pedestrian walk joining side parts of the grounds. This path is bordered with careful planting of a variety of low growing annuals and perennials to cater for the children’s sensory development. This path is paved in parts with a variety of multiple shaped pave materials, such as gravel stone chips, woodchips, bricks, paving slabs, sawn logs, cobbles set in concrete, broken stone slabs and broken marble slabs in mortar to be used for science, math sensory and movement control activities.
5. Conclusion
By working together to formulate the proposal, children gained certain social skills experientially as well as skills in language, mathematics, design, art, and natural sciences. The fact that they contributed with their own ideas for the redevelopment of their space raised their involvement in their own learning but also enhanced their self-esteem and sense of citizenship. The teaching staff, parents and local authorities showed interest in the project demonstrating an increase in citizenship values. An added positive outcome that emerged from the project was the appropriateness of graphic interviews as a quick and effective means of detecting children’s preferences for their own environment, which has significant implications for school grounds designers.
The project seemed to have immediate positive results both for the environment and for the children. It introduced new ways of experiential and cooperative learning to meet the targets of the national curriculum. It has also presented the local community with an innovative and participatory approach to development, raising the interest of municipal authorities and other schools of the area in the adoption of a participatory approach to the development of school environments. Finally, it emphasised the link between the school’s physical environment and teaching approaches and revealed the need to improve both for a better education corresponding to the needs of sustainability.