Small Learning Groups Revive the Open Classroom

Small schools such as the new Harry S Truman High School in Washington state are embracing the open classroom-an idea with a troubled history. Unlike the noisy "schools without walls" built in the 1960s and 70s that often drove students and teachers to distraction with unmediated noise, a variation of the idea seems to be a good fit for Truman’s project-based curriculum.

Truman High School Principal Pam Morris-Stendal, her staff, and the Federal Way School District believe they have both a curriculum and a facility design that will allow the concept to succeed. The small school also has the backing of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, which provided a portion of funds needed to construct the $4 million, 23,000-square-foot facility, in addition to financing generous student scholarships.

As part of the school’s commitment to project-based learning, all students at Truman High School spend at least two days per week fulfilling internships with banks, health care providers, newspapers, and other local organizations. Fewer students mean less noise and allows learning in smaller groups. This reduced student presence also lends itself to an inexpensive, open layout that’s light on finishes.

Based in part on a concept developed by Big Picture Schools of Providence, R.I., Truman’s 102 students begin their school days in the Commons, a large assembly space that also accommodates dining and student presentations. From their morning assembly, students move in groups of 17 to six learning areas with partial-height walls and no doors.

The master plan for the site, developed by Mahlum Architects of Seattle, orients the buildings into a cohesive campus on the property’s northern perimeter. The setup maximizes solar exposure to both the buildings and the open public spaces, while providing easy access to adjacent Steele Lake Park.

Opened in February, the new school is made up of two simple buildings offset from each other and joined by a common entry, administrative offices, meeting room, student store, kitchen, and mechanical and electrical rooms. The two structures are mirror images, each having three sizes of rooms or areas in which to gather.

The open learning areas are called "Advisories" and radiate out from a central activity area that reinforces the emphasis on community. Students are then split into smaller teams and can use one of four enclosed study rooms or the computer workstations placed behind the partial-height walls. "The need for acoustic isolation isn’t as great because the advisors are standing up teaching these kids. It’s more like a seminar where there might be group discussions instead of one person lecturing to others," says Mahlum’s project director, David Mount.

"The models that were built in the 1970s weren’t successful because teachers taught in the same way they always did," says Mount. "There were teachers lecturing to a class and a teacher adjacent doing the same thing. It was a real distraction. This way, the program is more integrated and there’s much less direct instruction." School officials didn’t wait for the new building to open before implementing their new educational program, which has been in place for more than a year.

It remains the responsibility of each student to monitor their own volume in the appropriate areas, but spaces are provided where students can make more noise. In addition to the small study rooms, planners added a large project room with sinks and larger tables to serve as a catch-all for messy projects.

The enclosed project room also can be used by visiting presenters who lecture in the traditional manner. This may prove to be the most important improvement over the open classrooms of the past; showing movies was particularly problematic in open classrooms, and teachers often used bookcases or curtains as impromptu sound buffers.

Ceiling and wall panels include sound-absorption material, and meeting areas are of varying sizes to further dampen reflective noises in the advisory areas. The mechanical systems also were enlisted to fight background noise; ductwork was fine tuned to create just the right noise level so speech in another area cannot be understood, making it less of a distraction.

"One of our challenges was to maximize the use of natural daylighting throughout since learning can take place anywhere within the footprint of the building," said Mount. The solution: a raised central clerestory that provides diffused daylight throughout the building. Vents at the clerestory level and operable windows allow for natural ventilation, while each Advisory has large windows with a four-foot roof overhang to keep out the glare of direct sunlight.

Truman High School earned a 2002 DesignShare/School Construction News Citation Award.