Seeing is Learning: The Value of Transparency in Today’s Schools

Think back to your primary and secondary schools – what do you remember about the building? You are probably thinking of concrete block-walled classrooms and rows of seats facing the teacher. The only views of the rest of the school were of windowless corridors lined with lockers. There were few opportunities to see your peers learning or to know what was happening outside your classroom.

Fortunately for today’s students, schools have evolved from teacher-centered to learner-centered teaching models. Students have more agency in their education and exercise more active relationships with their peers and teachers. Technology has helped this shift, providing students enormous latitude to where, when and how they learn. Curricular offerings are also changing, bringing fun and exciting options to students across all subjects, from CTE to the arts and everything in between. These courses expose K-12 students to subjects historically reserved for post-high school education.

These evolving changes – emphasizing collaboration, exploration and autonomy – influence how my colleagues and I design learning environments. Every space in the school is a place for learning, not just “the classroom.” Transparency is fundamental to making this work; visibility between areas encourages exploration, promotes learning, and makes it easier for teachers to supervise students and respond faster to incidents.

Districts must balance various educational, environmental and safety factors when considering how much glass to use in their new or renovated schools. Three of our recent projects demonstrate how districts can promote transparency without compromising security.

Learning on Display

One of the most apparent benefits of transparency is the ability to put learning on display to students. Many of today’s schools – especially high schools – are venues for introducing students to potential career paths. They can encourage career exploration by offering peaks into the STEM, tech ed, culinary or art rooms, among others, to spark curiosity and encourage students to explore new subjects.

Students at Middleton High School can watch their peers in the encore classrooms from the adjacent commons area.

Middleton High School adopted a “learning street” model with windows into the classrooms and encore spaces to help engage students. These classrooms surround one of the school’s commons areas, so there is plenty of exposure. Whether eating lunch, studying or just walking by, students can watch their peers 3D print a model in the robotics lab, design a prototype in the fab lab, or make pastries in a professional kitchen environment. Visibility into these classrooms encourages students to explore the courses and associated careers, opening doors to previously unknown opportunities.

Students learn by watching others. When they see their peers engaged with teachers or learning activities, they are more likely to be excited about the lessons. A student might walk past a classroom where they had a class earlier that day and see another student approaching the problem differently. The observation might spark an idea and encourage the student to reengage with the lesson’s content.

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Like Middleton High School, Sheboygan Falls Middle School incorporated a learning street throughout the center of the building. Off the main corridor are “side streets” that lead to neighborhoods for every grade level, each with a cluster of classrooms around enlarged circulation areas. The circulation areas are extensions of the classrooms and include collaboration zones, small-group instruction rooms and student storage spaces. Glass walls between the classrooms and circulation areas allow students to leave the four classroom walls while still under the teacher’s supervision.

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We also helped the school extend its learning environments by adjoining many encore classrooms to the cafeteria and commons area. In culinary arts, for example, students can bake cookies during class and sell them right outside the classroom door during lunch or after-school events. Overhead glass garage doors offer views of the adjacent spaces and the flexibility to do projects requiring more room. The nearby furniture supports these spatial connections because it is specifically designed and selected to accommodate both dining and learning, boosting the cafeteria’s role to be more than the lunchroom – it can be used for learning throughout the day.

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Supervision

Studies show that bad behavior decreases when teachers can see students in multiple spaces at once. Students are less likely to misbehave when they know their teachers or peers are watching them.

Corridors next to the core classrooms at Sheboygan Falls Middle School allow students to break out into small groups or work independently while still being within sight of their teachers.

Middleton High School and Sheboygan Falls Middle School have many spaces outside the core classrooms for students to work independently or in small groups, reinforcing their autonomy and developing self-directed learning skills. These spaces are successful because they are open, visible and connected, allowing teachers to monitor what is happening inside and outside their classrooms simultaneously. The design team brought the spaces together for active supervision and eliminated hidden areas that could not be easily monitored.

Transparency between spaces also helps teachers gain reaction time. They can respond faster to incidents and are more likely to have support from other teachers who witnessed the event.

For example, consider two students who are about to fight. These altercations often begin with tense talking and chest-thumping and may take minutes before physical action ensues. The more awareness nearby teachers have, the faster they can react and intervene.

“The glass provides the opportunity for staff to see what's going on in the hallway – which is helpful and needed for supervision,” said Pam Hammen, principal of Verona Area High School, another building that benefits from transparency between the classrooms and corridors. “The more supervised the area, the better the behavior.”

Safety and Security

Transparency improves learning experiences, but more of it in schools raises an important question: How do districts create open and visible spaces that still allow students to shelter in place if there is a threat? It is a complex problem that requires districts and their architects to ensure student safety on a day-to-day basis and for worst-case events.

It is possible to design first-floor spaces with a second means of egress. Students can leave the building directly from the learning environment if an incident occurs. But what if the classrooms are located on the upper floors?

Verona Area High School classrooms feature pass-through doors that can serve as secondary exits during emergencies.

Verona Area High School arrived at a unique solution: The core classrooms are designed as a connected kit of parts linking classrooms, small group rooms and break-out learning areas. Within the classroom areas, we incorporated large, sliding markerboard panels that can be moved in front of the corridor glass, obstructing views into the classroom when required.

The classrooms are also connected via pass-through doors, which have multiple benefits. Most importantly, the doors provide a secondary exit out of a room if there is an immediate threat causing students to flee. Rooms with several access points and visibility to adjacent spaces also help alleviate the stress of students who have experienced trauma or have acute fears of confined spaces. From an educational perspective, students and teachers can easily move between classes and share resources.

Additional Benefits

Beyond its impact on learning, supervision and safety, transparency is essential for increasing access to daylight. Incorporating open spaces and interior windows in schools allows sunlight to penetrate further into the building.?

Studies show that access to natural light improves students’ and staff’s overall wellness. For example, a Heschong Mahone Group study showed that students with more access to natural light in their classrooms progressed 20 percent faster on mathematics and 26 percent faster on reading tests over one year than students with minimal daylight exposure.

The floor-to-ceiling windows in the Verona Area High School’s library provide plenty of natural light and help students orient themselves in the building.

Transparency can also impact wayfinding. This is especially important for larger school buildings. When students can visually connect to a familiar landmark outside, they are more likely to understand where they are within the building, alleviating the anxiety of feeling lost.

A Tailored Approach

There is no one-size-fits-all approach to increasing transparency in schools. The best solutions arise after districts do their homework in close partnership with their architect. When planning a renovation or new building, districts should tour other schools and review precedents to understand what will and will not work for their schools. They should also solicit student, staff and community input to inform decisions.

It is also good to remember that students and staff may need varying amounts of time to adjust to increased transparency in their schools, particularly if they are used to buildings constructed in the early- to mid-twentieth century. But in our experience, they get used to it quickly.

“I remember that during the design process, I wondered if having glass between the classroom and hallway would distract the students,” said Principal Hammen. “The design team assured me that this novelty would last a few weeks, then just become how it is. The team was right. I do not see students distracted by hallway traffic.”

Increasing Transparency, Elevating Schools

As districts continue to adopt the philosophy that learning can happen anywhere, their spaces are changing to accommodate evolving learning objectives. Once treated solely as a means of circulation, today’s corridors are now extensions of the learning environment.

Transparency enables these spaces to be engaging and functional, but increased visibility poses essential questions about safety and security. In close collaboration with their stakeholders, districts can achieve a best-case scenario where students see learning in action while teachers and administrators can see them, ensuring everyone’s safety.