The Third Teacher: 79 Ways You Can Design to
Transform Teaching & Learning
[http://thethirdteacherplus.com/ ]
BASIC NEEDS
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1. Everyone can be a designer - Look to many sources for design inspiration. Teachers and
students, as well as architects and designers, have ideas about their learning environment.
2. Do no harm - Adopt this as an oath and a fundamental approach to Children's learning
environment
3. Cherish children's spaces - It's a natural impulse to nurture our young – let that impulse extend to
the places where your people learn.
4. Put safety before study - Children are ready to learn when they're safe and secure, so address
those needs before considering any other aspect of a child's environment.
5. Think small - When identifying hazards in the learning environment, remember that children are
more physically vulnerable than adults.
6. Assign the solution - Make health and safety a classroom project and develop lesson plans that
will produce real improvements to the learning environment.
7. Make janitors guardians - School custodians and caretakers play a vital role in protecting student
health. Respect that role by providing cleaning staff with the best available training, technology,
and supplies.
8. Design for speech and hearing - Acoustics isn't just for concert halls: Using sound-absorbent
materials in classrooms is a simple and effective way to ensure that teachers can focus on
teaching, not repeating.
9. Let the sunshine in - And the gray skies too: Increasing daylight in classrooms has been shown
to cut down on absenteeism and improve test scores.
MINDS AT WORK
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10. Shuffle the deck - Change up the locations of regular activities so children can explore new
surroundings with their bodies and their minds.
11. Make it New - Look at your learning space with 21st-century eyes: Does it work for what we know
about learning today, or just for what we knew about learning in the past?
12. Support Great Teachers - Free teachers from the traditional desk at the front of the classroom
and encourage new settings for teaching and learning.
13. Build Neural Networks - Spark cognitive development by providing students of all ages with
places to test new skills.
14. Multiply intelligences - Allow students time and space to choose what they want to do – their
choices will illuminate their individual strengths.
15. Display Learning - Posting student work, both current and past, up on the walls tracks progress
in a visible way.
16. Emulate Museums - An environment rich in evocative objects--whether it's a classroom or a
museum--triggers active learning by letting students pick what to engage with.
17. Form follows function - It seems obvious but is often forgotten: Teaching and learning should
shape the building, not vice versa.
18. Unite the disciplines - Art and science need each other. Discoveries - great and small - happen
when the two come together; so give students places for cross-disciplinary work, and who
knows what creative genius will flourish.
19. Bring the outside in - Transport the community, the landscape, and faraway places into the
classroom with visuals and objects that call them to mind.
BODIES IN MOTION
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20. Make peace with fidgeting - Think of it as brain development, which it is. Then think of how to
make room for it in the classroom.
21. Decide on dynamic - When classroom chairs wear out, invest in new ones that absorb rather
than restrict the movement of growing bodies.
22.Swivel to attention - Give students furniture that lets them twist and lean safely. The movement
will increase their ability to concentrate
23. Make classrooms agile - A learning space that can be reconfigured on a dime will engage
different kinds of learners and teachers.
24. Respect fitness facilities - Make them attractive and visible to reinforce the connection between
physical activity and overall well-being.
25.Take the “ground” out of “playground” - Who said playgrounds had to be at ground level? Locate
play space anywhere and everywhere, from the rooftop terraces to indoor atriums.
26.Promote healthy play - Consider playgrounds a free place for children to burn calories as well as
build motor skills.
27. Naturalize play spaces - Kids don't need much to engage their imaginations. Allowing grass and
leafy plants to flourish in play spaces will provide endless opportunities for play and discovery.
28. Scale the wall - Climbing builds kids' motor skills and self-confidence, so don't be afraid to install
walls and structures they can clamber up.
29. Free Choice - Life is full of choices. Prepare kids by giving them a say at school.
COMMUNITY CONNECTIONS
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30. Build close to home - All children have a right to a school in their own neighborhood.
31. Let your grassroots show - To rally support for a new school, establish a visible presence for the
campaign in your community.
32. Build for change - School buildings can be tools for social change, and history's the proof. Take
courage and inspiration from what's been done before.
33. Move in together - Building a new school is an opportunity to make friends with other community
services, such as libraries and recreational facilities, and perhaps even make a new home
together on a single campus.
34. Imagine like a child - Visualize a proposed school from a student's perspective -- the poignancy
of that point of view may help transform a proposal into a built project.
35. Consult widely and early - Those heading up the planning process for a new school will get off
on the right foot by inviting every potential user and stakeholder into the process right from the
start.
36. Roll up your sleeves - A new school will be realized faster if parents pitch in to make it happen.
37. Blaze the way - School can start at a student's front door, if the commute is designed as well as
the building. Walking paths and bicycle trails connect a school with the homes it serves.
38. Make them proud - The rich cultural traditions of a school's students offer design opportunities.
Embracing them is a mark of respect that tells students that where they come from matters as
much as where they're going to.
39. Be a great neighbor - A great school gives its neighbors a park to hang out in, a goal to aspire to,
a building to be proud of, and a standard to maintain.
40. Build a nest - Children need comfort just as much at school as they do at home. Give them a soft,
quiet, and cozy area to play in by themselves or with a few friends.
SUSTAINABLE SCHOOLS
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41. Leapfrog LEED - Think of today's top rating for environmental school design as tomorrow's
last-place rating, and design to be better than the current best practices.
42. Reveal how stuff works - Making school infrastructure literally transparent, to display the flows of
water and waste, teaches the kids the workings of the real world
43. Get eco-educated - Before embarking on a program to green a school, learn about what counts
the most and what works the best.
44. Highlight the site - Every school is located in a particular place with its own unique geological
features and natural history. Call attention to a school's site with design, construction, and
signage.
45. Attract like minds - A sustainable school building is a billboard for a school's values and
philosophy – it broadcasts the message to compatible parents, students, and staff.
46. Let students lead - Hands-on experience is a powerful teacher. Encourage students who want to
convert their school to sustainable practices, and let them go for it.
47. Rally the results - Increasingly, the metrics are out there on the financial benefits of going green.
Use the numbers to make the case for an energy efficient school.
48. Do your homework - Many families are trying to shift to more sustainable habits. Aligning the
school's goals with those of the families it serves creates a wide community of support for a
sustainable school.
49. Get out of the city - Creating places where children can be immersed in the natural world for days
or weeks affords learning opportunities that can't be replicated in the concrete jungle.
50.Slow the pace - Alcoves and furniture in hallways discourage high-speed traffic and create places
of pause.
REALM OF THE SENSES
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51. Make the caterers caretakers - Consider the people who prepare school meals, and the places
where those meals are prepared and served, critical to children's well-being – and hire and
design accordingly.
52.Spend now, save later - Equipping school kitchens and making wholesome lunches can be costly,
but the lifelong health impacts of a poor childhood diet are even more expensive.
53. Grow your own - Growing and preparing fruit and vegetables on school grounds educates
children's senses of taste, touch, and smell.
54. Think hands-on - Children of all ages need places where they can learn by touching,
manipulating, and making things with their hands.
55.Trigger the senses - Sound, smell, taste, touch, and movement power memory. An environment
rich in sensory experiences helps students retain and retrieve what they learn.
56.Design in multiple dimensions - Evaluate ideas, features, and materials for the learning
environment on their sensitivity to color, light, and texture.
57. Paint by function - Determine what each space in a school is used for, then specify a paint color
that supports the mood of the space.
58.Define the learning landscape - A child's world expands as he develops. Keep pace by providing
environments that are developmentally appropriate.
59. Slip off your shoes - Creating a learning space that's safe and comfortable to navigate in socked
or slippered feet offers an opportunity to use a physical act – the taking off of shoes – as a
mental preparation for learning.
60.Open the doors - Give students places to exhibit their work as if it were in a public gallery, then
invite the public to come and have a look.
LEARNING FOR ALL
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61. Adopt a young mentor - Allow someone younger than you to become your advisor on hopes and
dreams, and those aspirations become inspirations for learning environments.
62.Put the fun in fundamentals - Injecting a learning space with playfulness and humor creates a
warm and welcoming atmosphere.
63. Design with words - What you say influences what you think and what you do. Use the term
universal design, rather than accessible design, as a reminder of what it's all about: creating an
environment for all learners.
64. Recruit difference - The brightest way to arrive at inventive solutions for a pluralistic learning
environment is to build diversity into the design team.
65.Get accessibility aware - There's more to accessibility than meets the eye. Making a learning
environment truly inclusive means designing from multiple developmental perspectives.
66.Break down social barriers - The process, as well as the outcome, of building an accessible
playground can bridge all sorts of community divides.
67. Make it feel good - Schools that are engaging, vibrant, great places to foster a sense of belonging
that's important for all kids, especially those at risk.
68.Take it to the top - Politicians can create a climate of support for new schools that are accessible
to all learners. Lobby them to think about Gross Intellectual Product as well as Gross National
Product.
69. Domesticate classrooms - Equipping learning spaces with domestic features such as kitchens,
pantries, and cupboards can help make a school feel like a home.
70. Create a movement - Engage in meaningful conversations about changing the education
landscape. Parents, teachers, students, principals, community members, and politicians are all
important and powerful stakeholders in this movement.
REWIRED LEARNING
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71. Consult with kids - Survey students about what they would like to study, then design spaces that
will let them learn what they want to learn.
72. Put theory into practice - Give students space – studios, workshops, and laboratories – where
they can test ideas for practical applications.
73. Expand virtually - Make sure a classroom has the capacity to link into learning opportunities
beyond its four walls – even beyond the Earth itself.
74. Embrace purpose - Install technology that can simulate real-world situations -- given the chance
to solve authentic problems, kids will rise to the challenge.
75. Plan for the unknown - New technology brings with it new teaching opportunities – design a
learning environment that will allow teachers to modify their materials and expectations as
technology changes.
76. Unleash learning - Electronic learning aids aren't fancy window dressing: They offer teachers and
students new and diverse ways to engage with subjects and ideas.
77. Bridge the digital divide - One tested way to get all students, regardless of their socioeconomic
background, up to speed technologically is to give them laptops and a place to be unplugged yet
connected.
78. Dream big and be brave - The rate of technological advancement is increasing exponentially.
When designing schools, don't let today's reality limit tomorrow's possibilities.
