Create space for learning

What is necessary to create a learning environment? Plastic chairs molded for a body shape that doesn't exist in the human species? Windows eight feet high with a single pane that opens only after repeated blows with a large dictionary? Or maybe a desk with a fixed top and storage space underneath, one where Mason has to grope for his pencil as all his stuff falls on the floor. Mason's fifth-grade classroom is a hard-backed, banging, groping place to learn.

Teacher Says: Design places and spaces for learning that bolster Mason's self-esteem by making him feel comfortable, secure and in control. It can be a simple and inexpensive way to let the learning flow. And it might even increase his test scores.

"Why challenge their physical environment in an environment that is supposed to be challenging their creativity?" says William Spear, a school board member and an environmental and design consultant with the public school system in Litchfield, Conn.

"The difference to a child between receiving an education in a really well-designed, modern, new school and a typical 42-year-old school can be compared to the difference between writing in sand and surfing the Internet," John B. Lyons says in a brief to the Council of Educational Facilities Planners. The council's studies suggest that kids who spend all day in substandard schools have test scores 5 to 17 percentile points lower than those in new or renovated schools.

What kids need is a learning environment that comforts the body and nurtures the mind. Spear calls it "vital design," and he says it focuses on the way we connect "our attitudes and intentions in the space around us." It is design that's efficient, flexible, mobile, changeable, thriving and responsive. Just like Mason.

To get at vital design, Steven Bingler, a school architect in New Orleans, says he asked "the kids, the teachers, the parents, the community how to create a learning environment." This collaboration of attitudes and intentions resulted in the Henry Ford Academy, a high school that Bingler designed for the grounds of the Henry Ford Museum and Greenfield Village in Dearborn, Mich. "The kids were a pivotal part of the design process," he says.

In Dallas, a group effort by parents, students, teachers, school administrators, board members, architects, contractors and consultants resulted in a school building that actually helps teach the kids. At the Roy Lee Walker Elementary School, cisterns, windmills, eco-ponds and sundials provide in-house science lessons. By morphing classroom and corridor space, "the school gained 6,500 feet of learning space," says Gary Keep, an architect with the SHW Group who designed the school.

Vital design, however, doesn't always mean building a new school. According to studies conducted by the School Design and Planning Laboratory at the University of Georgia, elements such as pathways and entryways, public areas, instructional areas, physical education rooms, classroom walls, windows, lighting, climate control and paint relate significantly to student achievement and can usually be optimized in old buildings without busting the budget.

Creating a learning environment in the home also takes a natural logic, the same logic you use when you put the spice rack near the stove or dishes in a cabinet above the dishwasher, says Spear, adding: "Get a sense of how a kid uses his or her environment. Where do they sit to do their homework?" Then focus on the processes and the work flow. These vital design ideas will enhance the academic flow for Masons of all ages:

Make it welcoming. Keep the entrance to Mason's bedroom or study area free of clutter, boxes and furniture. "Don't make it confusing, disorienting or overwhelming," says Spear. Make the path to Mason's homework and hobbies wide open, welcoming and clear.

Make it powerful. Position Mason's desk chair, his lounge chair and bed so they face the door and give him the longest view. Builders of medieval castles, military strategists and business executives have known for centuries that the longest, widest, highest view gives you better control of situations that come your way. It works for kids, too. "Put kids in a control position where they can see into the room. Don't make a path behind his desk where you can sneak up and look over his shoulder," says Spear.

Make it flow. Put two comfortable chairs near his desk to encourage strategizing sessions or conversations with you and also give him a place to take a break other than on his bed. Set up a table where he can "put things that are complete," Spear says.

Make it fit. If Mason's a little guy, don't give him his father's hand-me-down desk. If he's a big husky one, don't give him a fragile lamp. "If the ratio is not right, kids feel like they have no control over it," Spear says.

Make it bright. "Light is the single most important factor in a learning environment," Spear says. The study area should have a healthy mix of natural, indirect, reflected, pooled and "focused task lighting," he says. Give Mason a ceiling light, hanging lamps or torch-shaped floor lamps to illuminate a large work space. Put small table lamps on either side of his desk and work table to highlight close work.

Make it secure. "No stools in kids' environments," says Spear, and that means school, too. Look for a small-scale office chair with five points at the bottom, rather than four legs. Spear believes that since five-pointed chairs make more contact with the floor, kids feel more grounded and secure.

Make it focused. "Let kids choose one active, well-lit focus like a soccer ball or a big poster," Spear says. Rather than letting a collection of 153 Beanie Babies fragment Mason's attention, let him choose one important focal point for his room. It will change as he grows.

Make it colorful. Morton Walker, author of "The Power of Color" (Avery, $9.95), suggests yellow, light orange, beige or off-white to stimulate positive feelings and produce an optimal learning environment. The School Design and Planning Laboratory cites reports that say blue and green calm adolescents and provide a subdued learning environment. Reds and oranges over-stimulate learners and are better used in hallways and common spaces in schools. So you might want to rethink Mason's suggestion about black walls and a lava lamp.

Academic challenges sometimes make even the most flexible learners anxious. Show Mason how much you value the important work he's doing by designing learning environments that are welcoming, mobile, bright and colorful.

Contact Evelyn Porreca Vuko at evuko@teachersays.com or by writing to Style Plus, The Washington Post, 1150 15th St. NW, Washington, D.C. 20071.