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Category: Peer-Reviewed Articles

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Waight & Abd-El-Khalick, 2011

The Biology Workbench (BW) is a web-based tool enabling scientists to search a wide array of protein and nucleic acid sequence databases with integrated access to a variety of analysis and modeling tools. The present study examined the development of this scientific tool and its consequent adoption into the context of high school science teaching in the form of the Biology Student Workbench (BSW). Participants included scientists, programmers, science educators, and science teachers who played key roles along the pathway of the design and development of BW, and/or the adaptation and implementation of BSW in high school science classrooms. Participants also included four teachers who, with their students, continue to use BSW. Data sources included interviews, classroom observations, and relevant artifacts. Contrary to what often is advocated as a major benefit accruing from the integration of authentic scientific tools into precollege science teaching, classroom enactments of BSW lacked elements of inquiry and were teacher-centered with prescribed convergent activities. Students mostly were preoccupied with following instructions and a focus on science content. The desired and actual realizations of BSW fell on two extremes that reflected the disparity between scientists’ and educators’ views on science, inquiry science teaching, and the related roles of technological tools. Research on large-scale adoptions of technological tools into precollege science classrooms needs to expand beyond its current focus on teacher knowledge, skills, beliefs, and practices to examine the role of the scientists, researchers, and teacher educators who often are involved in such adoptions.

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Lumpkin, Goodwin, Hope, & Lutfi, 2014

Much of the focus in the literature in raising student achievement has included parental involvement, principal leadership, quality of instruction, students’ socioeconomic status, curriculum, and use of technology. Limited empirical research relates the condition of the school building as a variable that affects student achievement. Furthermore, there is no research that has examined the impact of building codes on achievement outcomes in the state of Florida. This research determined whether academic achievement of 4th-, 8th-, 9th-, and 10th-grade students as measured by the mathematics and reading subtests of the Florida Comprehensive Achievement Test (FCAT) increased in new school buildings compliant to the 2000 Florida State Requirements for Educational Facilities. A causal-comparative design determined whether the independent variables, old and new school building influenced student achievement as measured by students’ FCAT mathematics and reading subtest scores. The control group was two cohorts of 4th-, 8th-, 9th-, and 10th-grade students who attended school in old buildings. The experimental group was two cohorts of 4th-, 8th-, 9th-, and 10th-grade students who attended school in new buildings. Transition from an old school into a new school was the treatment. Two hypotheses were formulated for testing and the research question for the inquiry was whether the percentage of students passing the FCAT mathematics and reading subtests increases after transitioning from an old school building into a new 2000 UBC (Uniform Building Code) compliant facility.

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Gallo & Romano, 2015

The paper aims to investigate the emergency of estate management the scholastic buildings. It examines the economic and legal resources problems, necessary to start an effective redevelopment of the public school buildings in Italy. In detail, the paper analyse the European researches field, which funded renovation and the new construction actions of energy efficient school buildings, and presents same results of research Teenergy School. The Teenergy research, has involved the University of Florence and a Tuscany Public Administration in a benchmarking activities and in a pilot projects development. The paper aims to demonstrate the effectiveness of instruments and financial resources in promoting technological innovation, in this specific construction industry, as a vehicle to transform obsolete schools buildings in Nzeb, as indicated from the latest European legislation on energy performance of the buildings.

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Summers Tremewan, 2015

Sustainability in the design of K-12 public schools in the United States is gaining momentum due to the environmental, educational, health, and financial benefits afforded students, staff, the district, and the wider community. Detroit Public Schools is no exception to this trend. However, as is often the case with sustainability in the built environment, Detroit Public Schools’ focus has been heavily biased toward the building systems and building envelope, with little attention given to sustainability on the site. While not incorporated into these projects initially, the absence of site sustainability presents an opportunity for improved environmental stewardship at these otherwise exemplary schools. This study provides a broad overview of sustainable site design techniques available to urban K-12 school renovations, specific and quantifiable recommendations for their execution, and an example application of those recommendations at Detroit’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Senior High School. Further, the study provides an evaluation of the application from the landscape architect’s perspective. Site sustainability techniques focused on in the study include stormwater management, landscape and irrigation, food systems and urban agriculture, and on-site energy generation, all from the point of view and discipline of the landscape architect attempting to design a functional, aesthetically-pleasing, and environmentally-stewarded school campus. Areas where Detroit is already a leader in sustainability are noted, such as with its Food and Nutrition Program and the incorporation of urban agriculture in its food system and curriculum. Affording Detroit Public Schools the tools necessary to accomplish its next frontier of sustainability, this study seeks to help cement the district’s leadership in this capacity.

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Schimmel, 2011

Green energy represents a way to empower students by demonstrating creative problem-solving with an eye on protecting precious resources, both capital and natural. Many school districts have already taken the initiative during the past five years to implement energy projects, whether for the educational or economic opportunities, or both. Districts throughout California are coming into contact with various vendors sharing information and proposals to develop energy initiatives, including solar photovoltaics (PV). Schools have the opportunity to be leaders in modeling energy use. Begin the process by following the tips presented in this article and taking advantage of The Energy Initiative, co-sponsored by ACSA.

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Kim, Hong, & Koo, 2012

Green-roof systems offer various benefits to man and nature, such as establishing ecological environments, improving landscape and air quality, and offering pleasant living environments. This study aimed to develop an optimal-scenario selection model that considers both the economic and the environmental effect in applying GRSs to educational facilities. The following process was carried out: (i) 15 GRSs scenarios were established by combining three soil and five plant types and (ii) the results of the life cycle CO2 analyses with the GRSs scenarios were converted to an economic value using certified emission reductions (CERs) carbon credits. Life cycle cost (LCC) analyses were performed based on these results. The results showed that when considering only the currently realized economic value, the conventional roof system is superior to the GRSs. However, the LCC analysis that included the environmental value, revealed that compared to the conventional roof system, the following six GRSs scenarios are superior (cost reduction; reduction ratio; in descending order): scenarios 13 ($195,229; 11.0%), 3 ($188,178; 10.6%), 8 ($181,558; 10.3%), 12 ($130,464; 7.4%), 2 ($124,566; 7.0%), and 7 ($113,931; 6.4%). Although the effect is relatively small in terms of cost reduction, environmental value attributes cannot be ignored in terms of the reduction ratio.

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Hong, Kim, & Koo, 2012

As the area of urban forests rapidly decrease in size, there is growing interest in green roofs as the only alternative to urban forests. This study aimed to evaluate economic and environmental effects of functional improvement in elementary school facilities by applying various improvement scenarios based on green roof systems (GRSs) with the combination of energy-saving measures (ESMs). A total of 16 possible improvement scenarios from the combination of GRSs and ESMs were developed, and energy modeling (Energy Plus ver. 6.0), based on the (i) characteristics of building, (ii) regional climate, and (iii) season, was performed. Using the energy modeling result, the amount of the CO2 emission reduction by energy savings and the CO2 absorption by GRSs’ plants was calculated, and a life cycle cost analysis was conducted with the consideration of the life cycle CO2 (LCCO2). The results of this study can be used (i) to introduce the most appropriate ESMs for the specific facility when applying GRSs, (ii) to decide which location is proper to implement GRSs considering characteristics of regional climate, and (iii) to select energy- and cost-efficient elementary school when applying GRSs.

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Huang, Sorensen, Davis, Frerichs,  Brittin,  Celentano, Callahan, &  Trowbridge, 2013

We developed a new tool, Healthy Eating Design Guidelines for School Architecture, to provide practitioners in architecture and public health with a practical set of spatially organized and theory-based strategies for making school environments more conducive to learning about and practicing healthy eating by optimizing physical resources and learning spaces. The design guidelines, developed through multidisciplinary collaboration, cover 10 domains of the school food environment (eg, cafeteria, kitchen, garden) and 5 core healthy eating design principles. A school redesign project in Dillwyn, Virginia, used the tool to improve the schools’ ability to adopt a healthy nutrition curriculum and promote healthy eating. The new tool, now in a pilot version, is expected to evolve as its components are tested and evaluated through public health and design research.

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Acar, 2015

The purpose of landscape design is to design comfortable spaces that meet people’s needs and demands in open spaces. Depending on the users and activities, the forms and capacities of these spaces and equipment vary. These spaces where such activities will take place are designed according to such criteria as design concept, activity type, the location of the area to be designed etc. In this study, the spaces are designed based on the activity type.

For this purpose, a module was chosen based on activity type, and spaces were created by bringing several of this module together in different sizes and directions. This method was tested in a playground design study in the Child, Play and Design course at the Department of Landscape Architecture, Karadeniz Technical University, because playground design is one of the exciting fields of the study of landscape architecture. Additionally, unlike adults, children perceive the functional features of the environment; in otherwords, they perceive the opportunities that the elements in the environment offer. The affordances offered by the modules provide a functional use of the space. Therefore, in this method, modules were determined according to affordances. Eventually, the resulting design products showed that this approach is assessable in the open space design.

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Cornelius, Macsata, Oo, & Stanley, 2015

Active learning (AL) is a teaching pedagogy that seeks to improve student engagement and performance in class. Currently, Worcester Polytechnic Institute has no classrooms designed for this style of teaching. We conducted interviews with WPI faculty and administration, along with other schools with successful AL initiatives, to investigate the feasibility of active learning classrooms. Ultimately, we developed specific recommendations for implementing AL spaces at WPI, along with strategies that would help to optimize their performance.

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