09 March 2009

Design for the minds of the future -- a new contest!

Architecture for Humanity wants your ideas and designs for the classrooms of the future. Their 2009 Open Architecture Challenge invites students, teachers and architects to submit their designs for classrooms in the places that need them most. You don't have to be a licensed architect, just submit the best possible plans and they'll find you a team.

The plans must be site specific and the designer can partner with a school of their choice, but AFH offers three very deserving partners. Orient Global needs design solutions for classrooms in high-density, urban India. Modular Building Institute and Blazer Industries want to produce relocatable classrooms to get around traditional school district constraints. Finally, Building Tomorrow is asking for classrooms that would work in remote and rural areas of Uganda. Challenging scenarios all three, but bursting with possibilities.

From Cameron Sinclair: Register by May 4, and enter by June 1. The winning team receives $5,000, AND the selected school receives $50,000 to renovate their spaces to become more sustainable. Runners-up get $1K/$10K. If you have any questions on how to enter, feel free to email me or visit the site for more details.
Cheers,
Cameron

The competition is hosted through the Open Architecture Network that was born from Cameron Sinclair's 2006 TED Prize wish. To discover more about the organization and humanitarian design watch his 2006 TEDTalk:

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13 December 2007

Why we should teach philosophy to kids

Via the BPS Research Digest: A recent study on the long-term benefits of the Socratic method. In a study of 105 children, all around 10 years old, teachers spent an hour a week for 16 months teaching lessons based on philosophical inquiry.

The philosophy-based lessons encouraged a community approach to "inquiry" in the classroom, with children sharing their views on Socratic questions posed by the teacher.

The result? At the end of 16 months,

Compared with 72 control children, the philosophy children showed significant improvements on tests of their verbal, numerical and spatial abilities

And two years later, when the philosophy children were tested again, their higher scores persisted -- while the lower-scoring control group were, in some cases, declining further. Researchers Keith Topping and Steve Trickey point out that these gains persisted even though the kids had switched schools as well, from primary to secondary, showing that the influence of philosophical inquiry works across contexts and over time.

Or in the words of Socrates, "If this is the doctrine which corrupts the youth, my influence is ruinous indeed."

Socrates image from Wikimedia

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