Outdoor Learning Environments Symposium

Portland, Ore. – Outdoor learning environments are important for encouraging healthy behaviors and improving the physical, educational and mental wellbeing of children. They provide a setting for exploration, inquiry and learning. Additionally, they empower environmental literacy and promote learning in many educational disciplines. 

Join A4LE in this two-day symposium where we will explore how to establish, gain and maintain community support for your programs. Experts in outdoor learning will present evidence regarding the components, programs, teacher training and capital improvements needed to install Green Schoolyards. We will also hear from districts as they share examples of exceptional outdoor environments.

The event will be held at the Leftbank Annex in Portland, Oregon and include site visits to schools in both Portland and Vancouver.

Go here for more information.

Featured

  • Florida District Completes Construction on New Leadership Institute

    Pinellas County Schools near Tampa, Fla., recently announced that construction is complete on the new Dr. Michael A. Grego Leadership Institute, according to a news release. The district partnered with Rowe Architects for the project’s design and with Skanska for construction services.

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Architectural Power for the Modern Campus Landscape

    For generations, an outdoor classroom only required a textbook and a patch of grass. Today, not only has the laptop replaced the printed pages, the rise of agile learning has turned campuses into study halls with students listening to lectures and researching topics from quads, gardens, and plazas. The challenge for architects and facility managers is to provide connectivity without cluttering the landscape with visual eyesores or creating safety hazards with extension cords.

  • Moline-Coal Valley School District to Consolidate Two Schools into New Facility

    The Moline-Coal Valley School District in Moline, Ill., recently broke ground on a new elementary school that will consolidate the students and staff from two existing schools, according to local news. Robert Ontiveros Elementary School will serve as the new home for Lincoln-Irving Elementary School and Willard Elementary School.