Abstract:

LEA (Learning Environment Applications) is a European education project, and it's aimed at promoting and supporting processes of participatory design of school spaces, called "Phase Zero". The practice involves all school actors in the decision-making process of space design and use. The principle engine of this change of paradigm in school planning is a multi-level participation facilitated process. People with different professional backgrounds e.g. school leaders, designers, parents, pupils, non-teaching staff, administrators, politicians are at the same working table and to decide the future shape and identity of the school.

During the COVID-19 pandemic period, to allow this method to take place despite the bans imposed to combat the epidemic, a LEA working group defined a purpose based on the open online platforms as Miro (Miro 2021) and Padlet (Padlet 2021). It was experimented between May and November 2021, in two project partner countries (twice in Italy and once in Germany), with 120 participants. The Zoom platform was chosen for these interactive seminar practices, as it was considered particularly suitable to the workshop because of the possibility to divide the working groups into parallel sessions (rooms).

In order to share and experience this practice, the LEA group proposes a workshop. Focused on a space that belongs to almost all schools and that in recent years (due to the measures taken to contrast the pandemic) has assumed a position of particular relevance: the schoolyard. A 3h- session is aimed at a maximum of 30 participants, with the following structure:
1. Introduction to Phase Zero
2. Online group activity
a. Visual brainstorming: analysis of 30 emblematic pictures with school situations
b. Diamond ranking (Woolner 2010): Analysis of 9 particular pictures of schoolyards
c. World Café (Brown 2005) on the themes highlighted by the school space diamond ranking
d. Survey (Kaplan 2004) to collect needs about participation experience and feedback of the participants and evaluation of the process itself

Outcome:
The aims of the presented workshop are
- to share and disseminate a newly created participation process to an international audience
- to give the opportunity to experience a co-creation process, taking part at present in many European countries
- to design an “universal” schoolyard idea together
- to discuss the concept of “genius loci” in combination of school design and development
- to expand the use of the invented participation method to an European dimension
- to international inform and reflect on LEA research outcomes

Workshop results are concentrated to a “manifesto” for the design and use of schoolyard spaces. The “manifesto” will be sustainable published on the LEA website to document the workshop participation process itself.

References:
[1] Woolner, P. (2010) The Design of Learning Spaces, London: Continuum
[2] Brown, Juanita; Isaacs, David; The World Café Community (2005). The World Café: Shaping Our Futures Through Conversations That Matter. Berrett-Koehler Publishers. pp. 96–98
[3] David Kaplan (ed.) (2004): The Sage handbook of quantitative methodology for the social sciences. Thousand Oaks: Sage
[4] LEA (2020) www.learning-environments.eu - last visit 2.12.21
[5] MIRO (2021) https://miro.com - last visit 2.12.21
[6] PADLET (2021) https://it.padlet.com - last visit 2.12.21

Keywords:

Workshop, Learning, Environment, Applications, Co-creation, Participation, School, Architecture, Pedagogy, schoolyard, Research, Phase zero, project,