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Design+ Designing future schools

movement, touch, and texture), and introspection (beliefs, 3.2. Community ecosystem
cognition, emotion, and reflection). Design response to The concept of the ecosystem is derived from ecology
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place-based learning includes access to outdoor spaces for and here refers to a community of educators and
movement and experience of the natural environment. learners interacting within the physical environment and
This is not always possible in urban areas, and thus boundaries of a school. The ecosystem is both dynamic
consideration needs to be given to how indoor or virtual and inter-related, made up of teachers, students, school
classroom environments can include sensory, movement, leadership, parents, school buildings and grounds,
or introspective elements. the pedagogy, curriculum, values, and culture. The
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Understanding the situated and experiential nature boundaries of the school ecosystem are porous and
of learning can help designers understand the inherent intersect with other ecosystems of varying size, complexity,
capacity of the built environment. For instance, the and influence, such as the local community, and broader
geometric classroom box can be reimagined as being systemic, social, and economic communities. The use of
made up of a reading area, multi-media stations, a table for the term “ecosystem” places emphasis on the cohesion and
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objects to stimulate imagination, display and project areas, interdependence among the parts of the school system.
and work desks. Sfard uses the metaphor of participation Importantly, for designers, it broadly asks questions about
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to characterize student learning experience as situated the complexity, breadth, and depth of schooling purposes
and mediated by the classroom context. Experience is and function, and these questions can be addressed from
a convoluted concept, and is individual, subjective, and social, economic, cultural, technological or institutional
situated. Experience can be mediated by the materiality perspectives.
of the environment; including acoustics, lighting, and A learning community is an open community of
thermal comfort, and these factors can constrain or enable multiple spaces providing inclusive learning, engagement,
student engagement and learning. 25 and social and well-being opportunities. While the
Another way to consider context is to create immersive classroom model provides a base, the learning community
classrooms. This means the designer must consider how prompts social and collaborative learning and teamwork
students will perceive (through sight, touch/texture, between teachers. A learning community supports, for
hearing, and smell), be active (movement, making, doing, example, place-making, student-oriented approaches to
applying, representing, and communicating), and think learning, multidisciplinary learning, and student-student
(ideas, imagination, reflection, and awareness). This and teacher-teacher collaborative models of practice.
involves students engaging and learning by interacting Ecological models assume teacher and student agency
with the learning environment, tools, materials, peers, to take up the action possibilities of the ecosystem context.
and teachers. There could also be a disciplinary focus, Complexity is understood in terms of the dynamic and
for example, an immersive mathematics or an immersive multi-faceted interactions that occur on a day-to-day basis
literacy classroom. Such environments are experienced and between teachers, students, and other members of the
re-experienced as teachers engage with the configuration school community and the social, cultural, and institutional
and design features. resources and processes related to learning and well-
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Learning space design can shape or influence the being. The design coherence of the school ecosystem
learning experience, although this is not always in ways provides the background for how the interplay of teachers,
that were intended. However, even accounting for the students, and space can be imagined by designers. 30
contrariness of human nature, spaces designed with The school ecosystem interacts with global social and
consideration for the local context and pedagogical model economic trends that change the international economy
do tend to be associated with increased productivity and including future workforce skills, such as critical thinking
achievement and result in a sense of student ownership and and problem-solving, creativity and innovation, digital
belonging. In essence, teachers and students experience literacy, emotional intelligence, adaptability and flexibility,
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classroom-based education as structured and routine collaboration and teamwork, communication, autonomy,
interactions between people and place. cultural competence and awareness, and entrepreneurial
As noted in Table 1, context, culture, and place can skills. 31
be accounted for with features supported by embodied One significant driver of future-oriented ecosystems is
learning, responding to the local landscape and First artificial intelligence (AI) in education involving technology
Nations history and culture, and permitting access to that thinks and acts like humans to achieve defined goals.
outdoor natural spaces. AI has the capacity to redefine the purpose and boundaries

Volume 1 Issue 1 (2024) 4 doi: 10.36922/dp.4131