Upkeep of Current STEM Learning Facilities in Conjunction with Emerging Educational Needs

3. Upkeep of Current STEM Learning Facilities in Conjunction with Emerging Educational Needs

The traditional classroom environment is not reflective of new STEM teaching methods, which call for an interdisciplinary, engaged, “learn by doing/learn by sharing” approach in a unique, sustainable atmosphere. Just as STEM education promotes interrelationships and flexible, cross-disciplinary learning, so too should its built environment be flexible and constantly in flux to work with nature. A Sustainable STEM Learning Envrionment will consistently adapt and change according to exterior conditions in order to provide the best environment for learning. By doing so, STEM classrooms themselves can serve as a teacher and source of learning for students by explicitly illustrating in a real-life context how they function, how they adjust to their surrounding contexts, and how they work with a focus to natural elements. As a result, students can become engaged in these active learning environments and work with teachers, administrators, and the community in the research/planning/design process of these spaces.

The classroom and laboratory environments should themselves serve as pedagogical tools, or as Anne Taylor, author of Linking Architecture and Education: Sustainable Design of Learning Environments, refers to them as, “3-D textbooks.” 5

5. Taylor, Anne P., and Katherine Enggass. 2009