Abstract:

Designers can learn from the different teaching approaches educational institutions employ to educate their students. This knowledge can assist them in enhancing the teaching and learning environments they design. For example, what kind of environment is required for collaborative learning vs reflective thinking. These researchers were specifically interested in understanding the importance of acoustic and visual privacy in the teaching and learning environments of high schools, and its impact on the students. They also investigated how 21st century high school facilities can be enhanced through acoustic and visual privacy. Their research methods included qualitative interviews with high school administrators, teachers, staff, and students on their interpretation of noise pollution and privacy needs. Quantitative data was derived through student and teacher surveys. For the data synthesize, these researchers utilized AEIOU framework and clustering and sorting methods. Acoustics and privacy solutions were evaluated by adaptability, user control, ease of interaction, and cost effectiveness. These researchers’ findings reveal that the high schools in the US are slow to embrace 21st century learning pedagogies. In fact, acoustic and visual privacy was found to be more difficult to achieve, given the use of large, open spaces often designed to benefit collaborative learning. In conclusion, with regards to the changing pedagogical approaches in high school curriculum: the needs for acoustic and visual privacy become more of a challenge. The future acoustic and visual privacy designers will have be to utilize tactics in a flexible, adaptive, and site-specific method. Acoustics for group work in informal learning environments ultimately needs to minimize ambient noise, auditory, and visual distractions, while maintaining an open visual field for security purposes. In this paper, these researchers will share their research methods, experiences and findings.

Keywords:

21st century, high school, curriculum, design, teaching environment, acoustics, visual privacy.