TAKE AS A MODEL

An important step in Turkey that is not only satisfied with meeting the deficiencies of primary and secondary school buildings, but also develops solutions for school environment’s physical and social problems by design.

The source of inspiration of this project was Cannon Design, an architecture firm focused on education and healthcare; VS Furniture, a furniture design company for learning environments, and designer Bruce Mau’s collaborative work, “The Third Teacher” book. “The Third Teacher” book defines the learning environment as the third teacher of students and discusses how it enables to improve the education.

Physical environment includes the entire school building, and social environment includes each people who can get in touch with students. According to the “Third Teacher” approach, both physical and social environments are essential parts of the learning environment. The book focuses on producing unusual and creative solutions to answer the needs of students and teachers while learning, by using today’s technology and available sources. Rather than promoting expensive technologies, it sets examples from schools which experienced vast transformations by small implementations. Students become prepared for the future and their lives better if they are raised in such environments, which are designed to make individual learners feel more secure and productive.

TRANSFORM THE LEARNING ENVIRONMENT BY DESIGN*

BASIC NEEDS

Basic needs such as nutrition, health, security and hygiene should be met.

MINDS AT WORK

In order to develop the mind perpetually, we should keep curiosity and interest alive, teach students how to learn, build critical learning skills, and increase the concentration.

BODIES IN MOTION

Students should satisfy their physical movement and sport needs.

COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS

The school should be in relation with its neighborhood and should interact to improve its surrounding.

SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS

Schools should adopt a sustainable model for their use of energy and source.

REALM OF THE SENSES

We should organize activities and practices, which will develop sensual perceptions of children such as taste, smell, sense, visuality and also provide them new experiences.

LEARNING FOR ALL

Design and methodology should be inclusive for each individual’s differences such as religion, language, gender, ethnicity, age, and disability.

REWIRED LEARNING

The adopted education approach should seek new methods in learning and should transform customs.

*8 essential headings are taken from the “Third Teacher” book. You can access the book for more information.