Integrated Design
Prototype Learning
Environment for Preschool
After a pilot study with 47 very
dull, traditional classrooms in Arizo-
na, 10 ASU architect students and I
decided to design and build a pro-
totype environment in the Arizona
State University (ASU) College of
Education. This was an experimental
study using the developmental needs
of 3-5-year-olds (Piaget) as design
determinants for the ensuing envi-
ronment. Programming also used
concepts from subject matter disci-
plines imbedded into the learning en-
vironment. These were child-scaled,
non-literal environments based on
“soft pastel, soft textured, subdued
sound”, “a geometric play area” and
a “hard-edged mirrored environment
and sand and water play.” There was
a space frame table, lowerable into
the central open space on a block
and tackle pulley system (physics).
Though stable in the experimental
setting, the architecture students
envisioned these modules as a series
of portable environments that could
be installed anywhere.
Research Results of an
Experimental Setting
Except for a few dolls and trucks, all
manipulatives were part of an architec-
tonic multi-sensory embodied cognition
organizing system. The locus of imagi-
nation was in the students’ “mind” with
multi-sensory interaction of manipu-
latives. There was a control group in a
traditional early childhood classroom
in the College of Home Economics
and we measured the same outcomes
in both the experimental and control
groups. The point of this experimental
study was that the architecture students
used design, curricular, and develop-
mental needs (rights) of 3-5-year-olds as
design determinants for each environ-
ment so that the environment became
a teaching-learning manifestation of
what was to be learned. Students and
their instructors could turn “things into
thoughts or ideas”.
Results from this study and a repli-
cation study with non-English speaking
students revealed that the experimental
environment showed increases in stu-
dent language acquisition, accelerated
movement from parallel to integrated
play, advanced concept development,
and creativity as measured by a scored
portfolio assessment instrument.
Monte Vista Remodel of Two Old
Classrooms
Ensuing research occurred with
George Vlastos in two adjoining gutted
classrooms at Monte Vista school in
Albuquerque. The space outside had
lain fallow for 50 years. A new landscape
(including a solar greenhouse) and an
outdoor deck were built. Students were
more independent and teachers spent
long hours after school writing individual
lesson plans for students in a communi-
(Above) Teaching Monte Vista School -
Solar greenhouse sketch
(Right) First story and second story remodel
of Monte Visa 2nd Grade Classroom – plan view.
Image Credit: Architect George Vlastos
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