How do educators, architects and children communicate when designing spaces for learning? Can educators write a brief which goes beyond a mundane shopping list of spaces and functions? Can architects adequately communicate their designs back to their clients? And can both listen and learn from the hundred languages of the children who will occupy those spaces? This seminar examines those questions in the hope of better design and educational outcomes.
Fiona Young is an architect and researcher in the field of learning environments. She is currently a PhD candidate as part of the Learning Environments Applied Research (LEaRN) network at the University of Melbourne, and Studio Director at Hayball in Sydney, where her focus is on Education and GLAM (Galleries, Libraries, Archives, Museums) sector projects. Core to her role is enhancing learning opportunities through design, and interpreting and bridging understanding between educators and architectural teams.
Paul Johnson’s work as an educator spans more than thirty years with learners from nursery to tertiary (as well as all places between). From 2007 to 2015 he worked part-time at Galilee Catholic School, Aldinga, where he played a formative role in conceiving and developing the school’s physical and pedagogical environments as educative resources. Galilee was also the site of research for Paul’s PhD: Grounds for Learning: Schoolyard activities as provocations, scaffolds and mediators for childhood learning. In recent years, he has presented, published and consulted on designs and professional learning that support inquiry. Currently, Paul is curriculum co-ordinator at Arbury Park Outdoor School
Fiona Young and John Held will attend sessions at Galilee Catholic School on the day of the seminar and record the voice of the children to bring back to the seminar.
