INNOVATIVE SCHOOL DESIGN FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION

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INNOVATIVE SCHOOL DESIGN FOR SCIENCE EDUCATION

• Mirjana Božic, Vesna Milicevic-Antonic,
  Slavica Nikolic
• Institute of Physics, Belgrade, Serbia, Bureau
  BAJIN, Belgrade, Serbia, AIA, New York, USA

International symposium on Advanced Technologies
in Education, Athens, Greece, January 26-27,
2007.
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Designing science laboratory for tomorrow
Knowledge about basic natural laws

• created and accumulated by greatest scientists
  through an impressive historical endeavour
• students should have the opportunity to repeat
  their experience and reasoning
• such a goal imposes that a wider space than a
  classroom is necessary. One needs a corridor, a
  courtyard, a roof, a terrace in order to
  incorporate devices and elements for mapping
  natural phenomena and studying them
• This can be achieved treating the school building
  and its environment as a 3D lecture book and Lab

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CREATORS AND DEVELOPERS OF THE CONCEPT OF A
SCHOOL AS A 3D LECTURE BOOK AND LAB

SCIENCE EDUCATORS
and
SCHOOL DESIGNERS
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SCIENCE EDUCATORS

• Deck the Halls columns, The Physics Teacher,
  1972-2001
• J. Meinke, real science done outdoors, since
  1990, New Community Networks (Communities created
  and developing through the use of Internet)_
• PHYSARCH School Architecture and Physics
  Education -part of
• the project WYP2005 Europe, 2003 -
• International Conference on Physics education and
  School Design, Belgrade, 2005
• Finnish National Board of Education,
  Conference
• The school of tomorrow learning environment,
  pedagogy and architecture, 2006
• Examples from The Cosmic Perspective, by Bennett
  et. al.
• (Pearson Addison Wesley, )

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SCHOOL DESIGNERS
DESIGNSHARE International Forum for Innovative
school design, Annual Honnour Awards for school
designs, since 2000. P.Nair and R. Fielding,
The Language of School Design, 2005. American
Arch. Foundation, National Summit on School
Design, 2003 School Building Organization S.A.,
Greece, development of school facilities, 1998-
International Students Competition, Design
ideas for school as a lecture book of physics,
organized by the Inst. Phys. and Faculty of
Architecture, Belgrade, 2006 Designers of NUS
High school for SE, Singapore, 2005
Spielgeraete-Richter, Play stations for
developing senses,
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COGNITIVE INSTALLATIONS AND PATTERNS proposed
and developed by the above mentioned science
educators and school designers

• PROMOTE
• science scientific methods
• rational thinking technique
• scientific concepts and ideas
• information and communication necessity
• scientific opinion, debate, critique, dialogue,
  doubts
• overcoming of scientific problem and
  inter-disciplinary dispense
• curiosity, motivation and willingness for
  engagement
• energy saving
• new aesthetics

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COGNITIVE INSTALLATIONS AND PATTERNS

• Are applicable to
• Environmental issues
• Teaching method and curriculum
• Self-education
• Meeting the scientists
• Approach to IT resources
• Research projects
• Psycho-social activities

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HISTORY
Sculptures of artists from Lepenski Vir

• Inhabitants of Lepenski Vir on Danube knew 8000
  years ago to devide a circle into six equal
  parts. The remains of their buildings are
  testimony of their knowledge of geometry. The
  base of their buildings was a trapeze, cut from
  an angle of 60 degrees

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Home base of inhabitants of Lepenski vir tell us
about their knowledge of basic elements of an
equilateral triangle and its relation to a
circle.
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Learning about number pi and basic elements of
infinitesimal calculus by imitating architects
from Lepenski Vir and Archimedes

• The meaning of the number pi would be understood
  and remembered properly for ever if thought by
  measuring radiuses ri and circumferences Oi of
  many large concentric circles drawn in a
  courtyard and by evaluating the ratios Oi/ri.

If a corridor and a courtyard of a school would
be decorated with a series of circles having
inscribed more and more regular polygons, the
idea of a limit and its use in infinitesimal
calculus would become familiar to very young
students.
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Retrograde motion of planets may be demonstrated
on a school wall with two students moving with
appropriate speeds along two concentric circles
in a courtyard.
J.Bennett at al., the Cosmic Perspective
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To repeat Erathostenes measurement of the radius
of the Earth, a column in the courtyard is very
useful. It is useful for physical geography in
general.
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TRACKS ALONG STAIRCASE WITH BELLS TO PERFORM FREE
FALL EXPERIMENTS IN GALILEO WAY FROM ONE OF
EIGHTEEIN WORKS AT THE STUDENT COMPETITIION
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This picture from Astronomie, The Modern
Perspective suggests in an ideal way how to use
school design to teach basic elements of a cone.
The sections of a cone are crucial for
understanding and memorizing the classification
of orbits in the gravitational field.
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R. Szostak, Simple hands-on experiments for
teaching astronomy, Hands on-Experiments in
Physics Education, Proc. ICPE-GIREP International
Conference, Duisburg, Germany, 1988, ed. by G.
Born, H. Harreis, H. Litschke, N. Treitz
(Didaktik der Physik, Duisburg, 1999).
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Transparent dome with a diaphragm and a mechanism
to record daily and annual path of the Sun.
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On a globe having the same orientation as the
Earth one may observe and determine the
position of a day-night line and its motion over
the Earth.
Observing day - night line on a properly oriented
globe. in a Science park of school yard
Chlore Garden of Science, Weizmann Institute of
Science,
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U.S. Naval ObservatoryAstronomical Applications
DepartmentDay and Night Across the Earth on
2004 Oct 10 at 1439 UT
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Max Valier observatory
The shadow of the globe axis may be also used
to determine approximately the true local time.
It is just necessary to draw on the horizontal
surface below the globe, the time scale
appropriate for the local place.
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Traditional equatorial sundail is a simplified
form of a globe which simulates Earth's
orientation and has an extended axis. It is as a
cut off, along the equator and the axis, from
a globe which simulates Earth's orientation.
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Courtyard tyling Vegetation Amphitheater
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Whether recorder at the University of Trondheim
Sun rays focused by the sphere record sunny days
in Trondheim by burning small areas on a plate
behind a sphere.
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The basic phenomena and properties of light were
discovered and studied using the Sun as a source
of light. A peace of reflecting material on an
outside wall of the school building would help
teachers to demonstrate polarization under
reflection
This would be in just the same way as Malus
discovered polarization by contemplating through
a calcite crystal light reflected from the
windows of the Luxembourg Palace in Paris.
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Filters and mirrors on a window to observe color
mixing of sunlight
Model for demonstration
Simulation using the program 3D studio
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Optical illusionsRotating discs
Spielgeraete-Richter, Play stations for
developing senses
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Energy saving
Solar roofing
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Solar cladding
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Can you calculate the speed of the water in point
A? Can you write an equation for the trajectory?
Deck the Halls columns, The Physics Teacher
Such a picture on ceramic tiles would inspire
students to think about this nice phenomena,
its cause and explanation.
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Very appropriate device for teaching basic laws
of hydrodynamics and to illustrate roots of the
quadratic equation
First prize at the 2005 Design Award Program of
Designsshare
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ECHO TUBE
Deck the Halls columns, The Physics Teacher
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Deck the Halls columns, The Physics Teacher
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Melodic fence
Spielgeraete-Richter, Play stations for
developing senses
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could be incorporated into school buildings in
various ways as elements of columns as
decorations in the corners or along the edges of
the rooms on the staircase in the shape of
the building on the ceilings, floors, etc.
So, students could easily learn about symmetries
and how symmetry determines the shapes in nature.
The concept of a primitive cell of crystals in
nature
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FROM ONE OF EIGHTEEIN WORKS AT THE STUDENT
COMPETITIION
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NUS High School for Mathematics and Sciences in
Singapore Winner at the Design-Share Awards
program, 2006

• Ideas include extracting the dynamic form of a
  double helix from the structure of DNA, and
  interpreting it into the form of an abstracted
  nano tube stairway at the entry lobby.
• The main entrance Periodic Façade was designed
  as an abstract version of the periodic table,
  with different parts of the elevation relating to
  different groups of elements.
• The Pi Wall is derived from the mathematical
  concept of Pi, and consists of a mosaic of
  rectangular perforated aluminum panels that are
  translated into the decimal digits of Pi through
  a number-coded color system.
• The Eco-Learning Trail allows students to learn
  about natural habitats and natural processes. The
  aquatic and eco systems, flora and fauna provide
  students with real life examples, enriching their
  total learning experience.

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NUS High School for Mathematics and Science,
Singapore
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NUS High School for Mathematics and Science,
Singapore
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CONCLUSION

• Fortunately science educators and architects
  initiated and cordially carry out innovative
  school design as well as improvement of learning
  environment as a whole.
• In order to turn these efforts into general
  practice there are other parties that should
  necessarily fully cooperate
• school administration
• investors and developers
• Right example for this is cooperation between
  School
• Building Organization S.A. and Government in
  Greece
• In Serbia this process is on its way to take pace
  with Europe.