The purpose of this book is to help designers and teachers think about the quality of outside school environments as learning places. The first chapter defines the players' roles as: (1) the designer, a maker of school form; (2) the teacher, the maintainer of the environment; and (3) the child, who is a major force in the use of the space. These…

Only recently is research into the total environmental requirements of the physically handicapped beginning to make substantial progress. Earlier literature in this field, which constitutes the majority of the literature presently available, concentrates on specifying basic building criteria but gives little or no attention to the nature of…

Discusses ergonomic design considerations for library media centers. Specific design variables, including temperature and humidity, noise, illumination, color, and windows are discussed; and computer workstation design requirements are presented that address furniture and keyboard design, monitor and display features, software issues, and…

American's aging schools need replacing. New schools should enhance teaching and learning and accommodate the needs of all learners; serve as community centers; involve all stakeholders in the planning process; provide for health, safety, and security; make effective use of all available resources; and be adaptable to changing needs. Examples of…

Further explains the theory of "experiential time," which argues that children can process more information and have more time for complex play when the size of the learning environment is decreased, which increases a child's command of space. (SD)

This guide provides a comprehensive method for measuring the quality and educational effectiveness of school facilities and may be used to perform a post-occupancy review; to formulate a formal record; to highlight specific appraisal needs; to examine the need for new facilities or renovations; or to serve as an instructional tool. Suggestions are…

Federal legislation ensures that children with physical disabilities should not be denied access to the school library. These children have the same information needs as their peers, and they want equal access to information in the school library media center. To create an accessible and functional school library, many requirements and…

Taking the perspective of environmental psychology, this paper interprets the influence of educational settings upon children's socialization. The physical environment and the social structure it reflects determine the nature of information acquired during socialization. Socialization functions, long assumed by institutions such as schools, are…

A guide to future physical plant development is outlined for Michigan Technological University, Houghton Campus. Consideration is given to the existing campus situation, concept development, plan description, and the development plan which is included as an insert. (RK)

Examines the size of child-care-center spaces as a factor for designing developmentally appropriate facilities. Explores a range of architectural and design issues related to the size of spaces and ways of subdividing rooms to provide opportunities for small-group, quiet activities that are important to quality child care. (AA)

Examines the size of child care centers as a factor in designing developmentally appropriate facilities. Proposes as a general principle that, whenever a center is to house more than 75 children, it should be partially decentralized into a village, campus, or articulated series of interconnected houses, with each module serving no more than 60 to…

Hypermedia has long been considered to have great potential to support educational tasks and applications. Many success stories of hypermedia support in education have been reported. Much of this work has been done in the context of traditional closed hypermedia systems rather than more contemporary open hypermedia systems. Developing hypermedia…

This document presents findings of a General Accounting Office study that examined the extent to which America's schools have the physical capacity to support learning into the 21st century. Specifically, it looked at facilities requirements, environmental conditions, educational technologies, and facility infrastructure. Data were collected…

Architectural solutions to some educational problems are explored and a systematic method is presented for designing schools as learning environments for children. Classroom environments and outdoor play areas are considered as functional art forms and seen as three-dimensional textbooks. The book demonstrates a way of using curriculum as a design…

As educators' awareness of their responsibilities towards ensuring the accessibility of the learning environment to disabled students increases, significant debate surrounds the implications of accessibility requirements on educational multimedia. There would appear to be widespread concern that the fundamental principles of creating accessible…