Speeches /Meeting Papers (150)

Noting that the design of the classroom used for early childhood and kindergarten classes can contribute in powerful ways to the education of young children, this paper applies principles of architecture to the organization and shaping of the interior classroom space. The paper maintains that five principles, when applied, create a climate of multiple opportunities and choices: (1) synthesis and creativity; (2) harmony and symmetry; (3) contrasts of light and color; (4) motion and stillness; and (5) order. The paper further argues that classrooms should be thought of as small communities within which events that take place in the everyday life of the society at large can be incorporated. A study is described, involving two Thessaloniki, Greece, kindergartens serving urban middle class families. The kindergartners were introduced to drawing prints of Da Vinci, Le Corbusier, and Dreyfuss, discussed the drawings in relation to the dimensions of the classroom and equipment, discovered relations with the use of furniture o