Round we go in School

[eduabncs]

Interesting article about a new build school in Wales.

 

BBC NEWS | Wales | South West Wales | 'Spaceship' school's pod classes

 

I wonder what the IT Tech at the school has to say about the place. And I'd be interested to hear what their involvement was at the design consultation stage. Do they have a office and is there a server room, does it have aircon and is it of sufficient capacity for now and in the future! Is it a mainly wireless school for IP connectivity? Somehow I think it probably will be! Wonder how long it will be before they are putting in more cabled network access points!

Edited January 19, 2009 by eduabncs

[torledo]

i reckon the infrastructure is built on a cluster of these microsoft branded round biscuit tins.

 

http://cache.gizmodo.com/assets/resources/2007/04/Windows_Home_Server_Concept.jpg

 

Also, i wish people in the meejia would stop using the term 'iconic building' as if it's some sort of stamp of approval or a sufficient reason for blowing millions on architects and consultation. Speaking of which, wonder how much it cost them to come to the conclusion that a circle is indeed NOT a square.

 

No corners eh ? fancy that.

[TechMonkey]

As ever it all sounds great & I'm sure looks fab but practically I bet it is a night mare. Ok so the teacher stands in the middle but then they are having to constantly spin if they are showing anything. They always have their back to someone which even if the kids are all little darlings then if there are any hearing support kids there it will cause problems & I think any kid will have problems listening if the speaker has their back to them. Add to that, where do you stick a white board/chalkboard/whatever to demo things?

[bossman]

Another case of "Architectural Heaven" but will turn out to be "Educational Hell" , where do they get these muppets from?

:mad:

[Guest Guest]

Anyone live round the area? I think theres certainly a market for "round" tables and furniture. Imagine being limited to buying only furniture with a suitable curve

[fafster]

Is now the time to mention that I live ten minutes away by car?

[contink]

Is now the time to mention that I live ten minutes away by car?

 

Is now the time to recommend you move as far away as possible?

 

 

@bossman

They find these muppets in places where children are rarely seen at all and live in a nirvana where everyone is a community, nobody argues and pigs fly in formation without sh*tting on everything in sight.

 

In short, a world of their ruddy own... I vote we put them in a circular room with a man with a gun and tell them they can live if they can hide in a corner!

[enjay]

Ooh, the school is a different shape - I bet that will dramatically improve the literacy levels of pupils...

 

Who would want to teach standing in the middle of the room? As TechMonkey says, you would always have your back to someone, which aside the discipline aspect is anything but "all inclusive". I wonder how long it will take the teachers to re-arrange the rooms back into sensible rows/blocks, or make their classroom hemi-spherical like a theatre auditorium.

 

Looks nice though, and definitely ticks a lot of boxes in Buzzword Bingo :-)

[SpuffMonkey]

Nightmare - company I used to work for had offices in the Rotunda in Brum - and it was terrible - no standard furniture would fit properly and trying to do trunking runs on a curved wall is a hell all of its own. *&%*&(% architects!

[Butuz]

"Circular classrooms give maximum teaching flexibility. Can you imagine the teacher can be in the middle of the room, middle of the classroom, on the edge of the classroom"

 

"It's also got some novel features such as windows that open in the roof"

 

Lol.

 

Makes me proud to be welsh!

 

Butuz

[localzuk]

WTH? I've just been told that teachers aren't supposed to be standing and talking at the kids any more, and if they do, it is only supposed to be for a couple of minutes per lesson - the rest of the time, the teacher is supposed to be wandering round and getting the kids to discuss. So that is what this concept is designed around.

 

Ok, lecturing kids isn't a good idea. But a large part of teaching is just that - imparting knowledge. When discussing a book in English, what's the teacher going to do? Sit in the middle? Around the edge in a random seat? Then the kids nearest them can't make eye contact.

 

What about smartboards? does it mean classes will now need more than one installed? Or will one hang on a pole in the middle and rotate slowly?

 

It makes no sense what so ever!

[Guest Guest]

What about smartboards? does it mean classes will now need more than one installed? Or will one hang on a pole in the middle and rotate slowly?

 

lmao Ive got a vision of some Jetsons style platform with a robotic teacher and whiteboard being rotated...

[enjay]

What about smartboards? does it mean classes will now need more than one installed? Or will one hang on a pole in the middle and rotate slowly?

 

How about mounted flat on the ceiling? (unless those are dome-shaped, of course!). Alternatively, you could have several screens located around the room, and students would look at whichever was in front of them...

 

I find it quite amusing to suggest that making the room a different shape will automatically bring in a different teaching style. If a teacher is good at "pupil-led learning" (and other such buzz words) they will be able to do this in any shape or lay-out of classroom; equally, if a teacher prefers the lecture-style approach, they will also be able to do this in any shape of room, um, I mean learning space.