The Walls Still Speak: The Stories Occupants Tell

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The Walls Still Speak The Stories Occupants Tell

• Cynthia L. Uline
• Thomas DeVere Wolsey

The National Center for the Twenty-first Century
Schoolhouse
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Selection Criteria

• Schools chosen from among 82 middle schools in an
  earlier statewide study.
• Examined the relationship between
• quality and cleanliness of the school facilities
• school climate
• the impact of both on student achievement

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Selection Criteria

• Faculty rated facility quality in the top
  quartile.
• 50 receive free/reduced price meals.
• Student achievement consistently high.
• one urban school (Dell)
• one rural school (Newcastle)

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Research Question

• How do specific indicators of building quality
  support or impede a positive school climate,
  fostering occupants relationship to the school
  as place, thus bolstering their capacity to teach
  and learn?

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Methods

• Individual Interviews
• Focus Groups
• Walking Tours
• Photo Interviews

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School Buildings as Primary Places for
Development and Learning

• Outside of the home, students spend the greatest
  portion of their time in school.
• (Gump, 1978 Rivlin Weinstein, 1995)

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• Here they continue to develop
• a sense of self,
• a measure of their own competence, and
• an increased understanding of their ability to
  relate to peers and adults.

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Findings

• Occupants of both buildings found an interaction
  between
• sense of place and
• sense of community
• that contributed overall to both climate and
  achievement.

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Personality of Space Identity of Occupants

• Occupants influenced the school place they
  occupied
• at the same time,
• the school place influenced and shaped the
  identities of the human occupants.

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These themes emerged as central to the
interaction between the built environment and
building occupants.
Themes Related to Building Quality

• Movement
• Aesthetics
• Play of Light
• Safety Security

• Flexible and Responsive Classrooms
• Elbow Room

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Theme Movement

• Thresholds
• Pathways

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Doorways as Symbolic Thresholds
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Pathways
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Theme Aesthetics

• Signature Features
• Pleasing Appearance

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Signature Features
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Pleasing Appearance
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Theme Play of Light

• Lighting Windows and Views

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Windows and Views
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Theme Flexible Responsive Classrooms

• Control
• Arrangement

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Flexible and Responsive Classrooms
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Flexible and Responsive Classrooms
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Theme Elbow Room

• Social and Quiet Areas
• Egress

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Elbow Room
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Elbow Room
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Conclusion

• Building conditions and design features are a
  factor in climate which can foster
• A sense of belonging,
• A sense of control and competence,
• A sense of commitment to the place and its
  purposes.

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The Walls Research Comes to California.
Privacy
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The Journal of Educational Administration
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• PowerPoint available
• http//edweb.sdsu.edu/schoolhouse/aera/stories.htm
  l

PowerPoint background created by the National
Center for the Twenty-first Century Schoolhouse
from designs for Corning School.
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The Stories Occupants Tell

• Cynthia L . Uline
• culine_at_mail.sdsu.edu
• Megan Tschannen-Moran
• mxtsch_at_wm.edu
• Thomas DeVere Wolsey
• wolsey_at_rohan.sdsu.edu