Page 60 - LearningSCAPES 2021

SESSIONABSTRACTS continued... Learning Objectives:
• Understand the importance and difference between wellness and well-being.
• Explore Kaplan’s attention restoration theory and how it applies to learning environments.
• Discuss the planning process to understand how to achieve a deeper connection to student and staff well-being.
• Outline strategies on how to integrate restorative spaces into the design of learning spaces.
Winston Bao, Design Director, Programming & Furniture Services, LPA Design Studios
Winston has over 25 years of professional experience and has dedicated his career to focusing on how design can influence experiences and, ultimately, shape quality of life. As an Associate and (CID), he has designed high-performance learning environments for all ages. With career highlights in the education segment, his ongoing passion has been working with clients to deliver solutions that provide practical value and celebrate their unique culture.
Saturday, October 16, 2021 - 10:00 am – 11:00 am
Valuing Student Voices as a Disruptive Force to Impact Design of Learning Spaces
1 LU
When asked, students speak with raw honesty. It is unusual that they are asked to provide their insight, and when they do, their voices are sometimes seen as a disruption to the status quo. Many of the students’ voices depicted in this presentation were
of those who attended schools designed to support their interests and talents. The setting of these studies seemed to provide students with a heightened sense of their curricula, their environment, and the connection or disconnection between the two. Student voices collected during the pandemic offer reflection of the societal disruption, as well as the thoughts of the students as a magnified disruption to consider for future learning environments. The student voices collected, as part of a series of research project out of The University of Texas at Tyler, clearly depict self-awareness and learning preferences. Moreover, their voices detail aspects of the learning environment that work to either foster their learning and engagement, or hinder these aspects. Their teachers and principals validated the students’ voices with expectations of interdependent learning on complex and varietal tasks that reveal their ideas, which informs design for evolving pedagogy. Given the pandemic, and the unknowns surrounding future places for education, the voices of these students provide insight as to what educators and architects should consider as policymakers make determinations about where learning will occur.
Learning Objectives:
• Feel confident discussing student-identified aspects crucial for learner-centered design.
• Explore a variety of design solutions that support student appreciated design efforts that support critical thinking and
creativity.
• Research methods used will allow participants to verify the connections between teaching and learning, and the built
environment as a learning tool.
• Apply personal preferences for the built environments as a comparison to the design ideas required by students for the
future.
Yanira Oliveras-Ortiz, Ph.D., Associate Professor, The University of Texas at Tyler
Dr. Oliveras-Ortiz is an associate professor and the assistant director of the School of Education at The University of Texas at Tyler. Prior to joining the UT Tyler faculty, she spent 20 years in K-12 education where she served as a teacher, curriculum coordinator, and school principal. Dr. Oliveras’ research agenda includes the study of the impact learning spaces on student engagement. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from Penn State University.