The Science + Art of Education

All young people should be prepared to think deeply and to think well so that they have the chance to become the innovators, educators, researchers, and leaders who can solve the most pressing challenges, both today and tomorrow.

The Power of a STEM Education
STEM prepares students for the technological innovations they are bound to experience in their lifetime.
STEM programs build problem-solving skills, training kids to learn how to tackle problems and figure things out.
STEM encourages creativity and innovation.
STEM gives students an educational edge.

The Phoenix Union Bioscience High School is a comprehensive high school with a science and math focus situated in the heart of the Phoenix Biomedical Research campus. Open to a diverse socio-economic student population, the building supports the district’s program that emphasizes team teaching, and independent learning.

STEAM: The hard lines that previously separated the arts and sciences are blurring.
We design spaces that allow students to engage the whole brain—not just right brain, left brain. Hands-on, creative approaches should be taught in the science lab, computer classroom, and art studio. After all, today's student is tomorrow's problem-solver—let's give them every opportunity to succeed.

Flexibility Matters
Furnishings and workspace studios should also be versatile, to accommodate both 2-D projects such as planning, drawing, and painting, and 3-D projects such as model making, sculpture, craft making, and other experiments. Students perform best when they have the freedom to stand, lean, or sit as desired. The studio that unites these specifications transforms within minutes from a science classroom to an art studio, or can unite both simultaneously. 

The creative process grants students freedom to embrace trial and error. In maker spaces, reduction of structure creates space for play and teamwork. The facilitation of discovery is best accomplished by making materials and equipment easily accessible.

Outdoor Learning Environments
According to a 2005 study released by the California Department of Education, children who learned in outdoor classrooms increased their science test scores by 27 percent. Outdoor classrooms come in different shapes, sizes and types, serving a variety of purposes. Whether a school is implementing a program that embraces the natural habitat or creating opportunities for students to gather, study, and learn outside, we design to accommodate outdoor learning goals.

 

"Creativity now is as important in education as literacy".
- Sir Ken Robinson