Opening of Lab for New Learning Principles at Buddinge School
Experiments have officially begun! This Monday the student council at Buddinge School cut the red ribbon to Lab for New Learning Principles. Our design of the environment for 8th and 9th-grade students sets the framework for an ambitious, practical experiment that will serve as an experience base for future school development in Gladsaxe Municipality.
Although we are now celebrating a new beginning, the transformation process started long ago. The school organization and the teachers have during the past one and a half year undergone an extensive process of change – both internally and externally. Through workshops and design thinking, we have prepared them to use the physical environment as a pedagogical tool.
"During this user process, it is important to create an understanding among the teachers of how learning can take place outside the traditional classroom. It's one thing to see a visualization of new stunning learning spaces, it's another thing to rethink your pedagogical method and practice,” says process manager Valinka Suenson.
After all, the new learning space looks radically different. Before the wing consist of traditional classrooms connected by long hallways and large common areas, not well utilized. Now the new learning landscape opens up the space and creates synergies for the students.
"We break with the traditional classroom. Instead, we have created a space for differentiated learning situations, where students move among private, semi-private and open spaces throughout the school day," says senior architect Jeppe Kleinheinz. “The new learning environments, each with their strong identity and design, offer a multitude of spatial and functional qualities. And at the same time, we activate the unused spaces in the 8th-grade wing.”
Both Mayor Trine Græse, Principal Trine Bjerg, the student council chairman and Rosan Bosch marked the opening – of course, accompanied a lot of excited teachers and students.
The practical experiment is part of Gladsaxe Municipality's strategy for the School of the Future.
