LearningSCAPES 2023 Conference

Dr. Renae presents on social and emotional learning at the LearningSCAPES 2023 Conference in Chicago.

Dr. Renae Mantooth and her HKS colleague's presentation at the LearningSCAPES 2023 Conference in Chicago left a lasting impression, garnering an overwhelmingly positive response from the audience made up of school administrators, facilities professionals, architects, planners, and designers. The session drew a crowd that exceeded the room's capacity, emphasizing its popularity among conference attendees. Initial comments reflected a sense of gratitude, with participants describing the presentation as invaluable to the learning environments industry.

Dr. Mantooth highlighted the importance of organizations like CADRE, underscoring their role in supporting smaller entities and emphasizing the open-source nature of the tool presented. Attendees also recognized the tool's applicability in pediatric healthcare environments, sparking interest in the potential development of a higher-education version. The presentation's emphasis on the teacher experience was appreciated, shedding light on a dimension often overlooked in similar discussions.

As the discussion delved into specific strategies, such as "Legibility and Wayfinding," participants noted the potential for these concepts to vary in meaning for different individuals, particularly those who are neurodivergent. Mantooth took the opportunity to highlight the prevalence of research on sensory well-being within autism populations. Towards the end of the session, a request for a Post-Occupancy Evaluation (POE) tool provided an opportunity to introduce the K12 POE coalition, a consortium actively seeking sponsors and involving various firms and school districts. The overall reception showcased the widespread enthusiasm and engagement sparked by Mantooth's insightful presentation.

The project, "Enriched Environments to Support Social and Emotional Learning," presents a visual design guide encompassing 18 evidence-based design strategies for creating enriched learning environments that foster social and emotional learning (SEL). Anchored by a neuroscience-informed framework, the guide emphasizes the role of physical space as a tool to support and enhance existing pedagogical practices in classrooms, ultimately advancing the agenda to equip students with social and emotional learning competencies. The guide serves as a comprehensive resource for designers, providing evidence-based design strategy cards to be utilized throughout the design process, offering insights into the impact of design strategies on both students and teachers.

Led by Principal Investigator Renae Mantooth, Ph.D., and co-Principal Investigators John Gasko, Ph.D., and Upali Nanda, Ph.D., the research team includes individuals with expertise in education, interior design, architecture, and project management. The project was funded by the American Society of Interior Designers Foundation and HKS, Inc. The guide not only enhances the understanding of the relationship between physical environments and SEL outcomes but also serves as a practical tool for designers to reference and incorporate evidence-based strategies into their work. Interested individuals can access the full design guide by filling out a form on the CADRE website, reinforcing the organization's commitment to disseminating valuable research in the field of educational design.

Environments for Teaching

Conference Title:

Dialogues 23: The Intersection of Emerging Research + Design for Learning

Presentation Name:

Designing Spaces to Promote Social and Emotional Learning: Insights from Teachers

Presenters:

Leonardo Gonzalez Sangri

Global Practice Director, Education

HKS

Lindsey Walker

Research Fellow

CADRE

Presentation focus:

Dialogues 23 is a participatory forum held by Learning by Design magazine to talk about education design and learning environments. Representing a coalition between CADRE, HKS, and Uplift Education, our presentation addressed the growing concern of the well-being of K-12 teachers

Our presentation explored how design strategies can augment and support teachers' formal and informal approaches to social and emotional learning (SEL) within their classrooms. Organized with the neuro-science-informed enriched environments design framework, from the perspective of K-12 teachers that implement SEL strategies in their classrooms, this study explores how teachers leverage aspects of the physical environment to support SEL. In addition to the presentations focusing on the collected Teacher interviews and findings, the Visual Design Guide was released, showcasing 18 evidence-based design strategies for creating enriched learning environments to support SEL.

Our presentation takeaways:

• Diverse Approaches to Working: teachers engage in various work modes and utilize multiple tools to do their job effectively. However, lag behind the work teachers need to do.

• Psychological and Behavioral Needs: teachers expressed the importance of having a variety of psychological needs met within their working spaces and their students' learning spaces. A sense of privacy and control is essential behavior associated with movement and safety, which are necessary for teachers and students.

• Social and Emotional Considerations: All teachers are committed to advancing their students' social and emotional development, but there were two distinct groups within the sample. One group is more comfortable with a self-driven organic approach, prioritizing relationship-building with their students, while the second group relied on formal strategies through predetermined lessons.

What we learned from participants:

A student learning environment is also a teacher’s workspace, although they aren’t often viewed that way. The teacher’s perspective may also be underexamined—which means the continued need to build strong partnerships in the industry and conduct further research.

Our takeaways as presenters and what we’re looking forward to next:

• Continuing to build a strong coalition with key partners and peers to advance evidence-based design strategies.

• Enriching the learning environment to become a tool and platform to support teachers and the student experience.

• Collecting and analyzing the findings of Phase 2 of the current study focused on measuring the impact across key student outcomes such as well-being, socialization, and college readiness. We also dove deep into how design can be connected to social and emotional learning.

Further Reading:

For more information on enriched environments to support social and emotional learning, read our visual design guide here.

For more information on Uplift, HKS, CADRE and ASID partnership, read ASID’s Research Grant Announcement here.

For more information on Dialogues23 and Learning by Design Magazine, visit their website here.