Elementary Evolution: New Compositions for the School Typology

Abstract

Shifts caused by de-industrialization in Western societies in concert with the development of the global economy are directly challenging the primary school archetype in the United States and other developed nations. Standardized elementary curricula, first developed to meet the needs of the Industrial Revolution, have produced a strictly controlled and overly programmatic spatial organization within the primary school that is quickly losing relevance to the needs of its students. Disproportionate emphasis on logical and linguistic subjects, use of examinations as a culmination of curricula and the consequently unrepresentative data used for school performance assessment have perpetuated obsolete design approaches to the typology. Research into the importance of linking subjects, different modalities of intelligence, and fostering creativity have failed to be properly integrated into the design process for primary educational environments, despite their direct application to needs of the global job market.

This thesis seeks to reshape the primary school into a hyper-responsive environment that utilizes contemporary research on developmental psychology and educational theory. In particular, the theory of multiple intelligences, developed by Howard Gardner, can provide a theoretical basis to shift the primary educational environment from linear progression of hermetically sealed enclosures to an open environment where students, teachers and lesson materials can overlap and support dynamic connections. The design of this fluid spatial organization will empower students to engage primary education in a self-directed and socially relevant manner. Situating the investigation within Detroit’s eastside will test the application of this new conceptual environment in an area with pressing educational needs.