Case study of the Bertschi School Living Science building, located in Seattle, the first project in the world built to the Living Building Challenge (LBC) v2.0 criteria and in an urban setting. This elementary school wing, collaboratively designed with the students and completed in February 2011, follows LBC requirements that include 20 Imperatives. These Imperatives, which include net zero water, net zero energy and adherence to a materials Red List, must be proven over a one year period of occupancy.

Discusses furniture design and room layout that will help to facilitate STEM curriculum and programs to maximize learning. 4p

Essay explores how campus, teaching, and learning complement each other. Discussion is based on the Lodi Unified School District, in California's Central Valley, design of a new STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics] Academy for the district. The campus's sustainable features will include maximizing natural daylighting and indoor environmental quality, incorporating bioswales for management of surface water, and a goal of achieving grid-neutral status through energy conservation and production of electricity through photovoltaics and wind power. The campus is intended to enhance learning, to be a teacher itself, and to support a unique curriculum organized around major themes of green technology.

Advises on the design of public school science facilities. Some aspects of all science programs and facilities which are similar in nature are described in the introductory portions of this guide. Subsequent sections focus on the peculiar requirements of individual courses or program areas. Sample floor plans supplement and clarify printed descriptions. This planner covers facilities design classrooms, laboratories, teacher work stations, storage areas, outdoor spaces, shared spaces, and safety. Program facilities include elementary science, middle level science, biology, chemistry, earth sciences, physical science, and physics. Appendices provide a checklist for safety requirements and National Science Teachers Association checklists for various grade level programs. Nine references are included. 51p.

Provides a rating system for use with laboratory building projects to assess environmental performance. It builds on the LEED Green Building Rating System that was developed by the U.S. Green Building Council. As with the LEED system for commercial and institutional facilities, this publication proposes a point system that quantifies sustainable building features and practices, with the goal of obtaining silver, gold, and or platinum ratings. 25p.

Practitioners in informal science settings--museums, after-school programs, science and technology centers, media enterprises, libraries, aquariums, zoos, and botanical gardens--are interested in finding out what learning looks like, how to measure it, and what they can do to ensure that people of all ages, from different backgrounds and cultures, have a positive learning experience. This book is a tool that provides case studies, illustrative examples, and probing questions for practitioners. In short, this book makes valuable research accessible to those working in informal science: educators, museum professionals, university faculty, youth leaders, media specialists, publishers, broadcast journalists, and many others. [Authors' abstract] 240p

Advises on the design of elementary and secondary school science facilities. The integration of science with other disciplines within the curriculum, project-based learning, and technology integration are first discussed, followed by elements of curriculum-based design, physical flexibility, outdoor learning, safety, technology, budgeting, and fostering creativity. The varying requirements for elementary, middle, and high school facilities are detailed in turn, and 15 references are included. 6p.

Description and photos of the outdoor play and learn area at All Saints School in Norwalk, Connecticut that promotes play and an understanding of the physical sciences and energy conservation. The environmental activities within the playground are dovetailing with a school STEM curriculum being taught in the classroom.

Case study of the Sustainable Urban Science Center, a classroom/lab building that is part of a Quaker school in Philadelphia, that is designed with the goal of capturing students’ interest with visible reminders of the building’s sustainable strategies. The building and grounds include photovoltaic panels, prominent cisterns collect rainwater for toilet flushing, and markings on the pavement indicate the ground source heat pump geoexchange field below.

Case study of the Music and Science Building for Oregon’s Hood River Middle School where Food and conservation science curriculum, net-zero design and student-based building performance monitoring have come together. It offers a tangible demonstration of how decentralized energy and water systems, aquaculture, biological energy systems, year-round food production and performance monitoring can be incorporated in K-12 design and woven into school curriculum.

The authors share their insights into the proper role of and implementation for STEM within the K-12 sector. Discusses the following: lab function and layout; sustainable STEM buildings; buildings as sustainable teaching tools; buildings teaching math and science; thoughtful planning of technology.

Recommends that schooling become more flexible and therefore more engaging and interesting, use less prescriptive technology, and improve STEM education if we are to maintain our place of prominence in the global economy. Describes the planning for the Colonel Smith Middle School Complex in the Fort Huachuca School District, a net-zero energy STEM school.

New STEM programs use flexible spaces and decentralized learning to give students room to experiment and collaborate.

Profiles this net-zero energy use high school science lab. Building statistics, a list of the project participants, cost details, a floor plan, and photographs are included.

Takes advantage of near-perfect conditions to create a net-zero, fully climate-responsive building. The article describes successful planning and implementation of a wide array of opportunities.

Explains the principles of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) inquiry-based teaching and the steps for planning a unified lab space that promotes an interconnectivity learning model.

Overview of the construction/renovation process from planning to construction, and a guide to how and when the science instructor should be involved.

Details considerations that were addressed when designing and constructing labs and instruction spaces, as well as public spaces, for Chicago's Daniel F. And Ada L. Rice Plant Conservation Science Center.

Addresses the need for safe science teaching spaces, made safe and cost-effective by being placed at the center of a space shared by adjacent teaching pods for math and liberal arts.

Presents case studies of optimizing two laboratory ventilation systems, as determined by commissioning.

Discusses how innovative building manufacturers are designing new modular classrooms that offer a range of eco-friendly features, an inspiring learning environment, and the right price. Examines the idea of the building as a teaching tool. The energy-neutral modular building by Project Frog is outfitted with 60 solar panels that generate enough electricity to power the structure, with perhaps a surplus.

Discusses laboratory drain systems, with emphasis on the special materials required to accommodate corrosive or reactive particular to laboratories.

Advises on how to optimize laboratory ventilation airflow and reduces associated energy use while maintaining or improving safety. Existing codes are reviewed and the steps of reviewing design intent, identifying the authority with jurisdiction, prioritizing resources, and implementing a design strategy are addressed.

Profiles a new science wing at a Dallas private school, describing the design, LEED features, and funding. Photographs, plans, and a list of project participants are included.

Discusses design of PK-12 science teaching facilities. Components of planning and design are outlined, emphasizing relevance, flexibility, and accommodation of student creativity and project-based learning.

Profiles the Germantown Friends School's new science center, a highly sustainable building employing photovoltaics, fresh air ventilation, geothermal heating and cooling, a vegetative roof, sustainable building materials throughout, and exposed building systems.

Compares the traditional constant-air volume fume hood that uses a great deal of energy, versus newer variable and low air-volume hoods. Higher initial costs for the newer designs may be quickly recouped in energy savings.

Reflects on the danger of an "It's always been done this way" attitude towards chemical storage in school science laboratories. References are provided to national standards for the storage of chemicals, and a list of 17 safe storage guidelines from the Centers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are offered. Links to five references are provided. Registration is required for free download.

Profiles California's Lewis Center for Educational Research Academy for Academic Excellence. The K-12 charter school features a radio telescope, greenhouses, fish ponds, and a "mission control" room modeled after NASA.

Profiles one high school and one higher education laboratory selected for the 2009 American School and University Magazine Education Interiors Showcase. The projects were chosen for their ability to integrate current and future technology, innovative use of materials, life-cycle cost versus first cost, timelessness, safety and security, clarity of design concept, and accommodation of an enhanced educational mission. Photographs and project statistics accompany a brief description of each project.

Profiles this Massachusetts private school's new science center. The L-shaped building connects via a glazed entryway to an existing academic building to create a learning center that exemplifies sustainability. Project information, plans, and photographs are included.

Profiles this Fort Smith, Arkansas, facility that created a spacious entrance and new administrative areas, as well as updated band, choir, and science facilities. Building statistics, a list of the project participants, cost details, a floor plan, and photographs are included.