• About Science in School
  • About EIROforum
  • Submit an article
Science in School
Science in School
  • Understand
    • Recent research and science topics
      • Astronomy / space
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
      • Earth science
      • Engineering
      • General science
      • Health
      • History
      • Mathematics
      • Physics
      • News from the EIROs
      • Science and society
  • Inspire
    • People, events and resources
      • Advertorials
      • Career focus
      • Competitions and events
      • Education focus
      • Resource reviews
      • Science and society
      • Science miscellany
      • Scientist profiles
      • Teacher profiles
  • Teach
    • Activities and projects
      • Astronomy / space
      • Biology
      • Chemistry
      • Earth science
      • Engineering
      • General science
      • Health
      • History
      • Mathematics
      • Physics
      • Science and society
  • Archive
  • Login
  • Contact
Issue 22
 -  22/02/2012

Designing a school: taking science out of the classroom

Adam Gristwood, Eleanor Hayes

How can the architecture of a school influence its teaching? Allan Andersen, head teacher of Copenhagen’s Ørestad Gymnasium, tells Adam Gristwood and Eleanor Hayes.


The Science on Stage
international festival made
good use of the open spaces
at the Ørestad Gymnasium
in 2011

Image courtesy of Peter Junker,
Gesamtmetall

Take a walk around the breathtaking Ørestad Gymnasiumw1 (upper-secondary school) in Copenhagen, Denmark, and the school might strike you as quite unusual. As you ascend the spiralling timber staircase connecting different parts of the school, you look over students lounging on orange beanbags discussing class work in specialised ‘learning zones’.

You could come across a student film crew working on their latest media project, or a science class dissecting frogs in an open workspace. There are few traditional classrooms and there is certainly no head teacher’s office.

“The design of the building encourages teachers to organise lessons that involve the students more,” explains Allan Anderson, head teacher of the school. “The idea is that teachers talk a lot less and, hopefully, students work a lot more, with more active work, more communication and more knowledge sharing.”

In the four years since the completion of the building, the school (whose students are aged 16-19) has become the most popular in Denmark. Its concept embraces a theme that runs through every class, from media, communication and culture (the school’s profile) to languages, mathematics and science – that the physical design of the building matters. And it is a formula that is working.

“Perhaps students do not learn more in terms of traditional content, but they do learn about co-operation, expressing themselves and working with technology,” Allan says. “For example, because of our strength in media and communications, teachers try to teach science in a different way. They use a lot of videos and virtual laboratories. Instead of traditional experimental write-ups, students might create a podcast or develop an advertising campaign working together with local organisations or industry. Lots of students who have difficulties writing about science find it much easier to talk about it. The school has only been running for four years, so I can’t yet prove it, but I do believe that our students leave with competencies that they don’t gain in the same amount from other schools.”


The open spaces of the
Ørestad Gymnasium gave
plenty of opportunities for
teachers to swap ideas at the
Science on Stage
international festival in 2011

Image courtesy of Peter Junker,
Gesamtmetall

Teaching takes advantage of innovative workspaces that can be customised according to the needs of the lesson, which can have particular benefits in science classes. “By having a school that is built to enable students to work on their own, you can move away from science teaching that sees teachers demonstrating the same experiments they have used for 30 years, and instead make science more stimulating and hands-on,” Allan says.

Equally important are interactions between teachers and students in large central spaces, rather than in cramped corridors, and through this emphasis on interdisciplinarity and personalisation, the school has been given a heart where social interactions have become a key part of education.

“The idea is that teachers and students should have interactions that move away from that of authority and towards that of colleagues,” Allan explains. “When they know there are teachers around who can help them with their work, then students can develop a responsibility for their own learning.”

There are plans to build in more private space for teachers to ‘recharge’, but the overall goal of a new vision of content, subject matter, organisation and learning remains unchanged. “The school has become somewhat of an icon,” Allan explains. “On a school day, it is a really exciting experience just to walk around and see everything that is happening. In a normal school everything happens behind closed doors, but here you can see everything.”



In April 2011, the Ørestad Gymnasium hosted the international teaching festival of Science on Stage, the network for European science teachers (Hayes, 2011). The spectacular architecture of the school provided a perfect backdrop for the eager exchange of ideas between 350 of Europe’s best teachers.

In April 2013, the next Science on Stage international festival will take place in S?ubice-Frankfurt (Oder) on the Polish-German border, with teachers from 27 countries sharing their most innovative teaching ideas in workshops, on-stage performances and the teaching fair. Each country will be represented by a delegation of teachers selected in a national event.

Participation is free for the delegates. To be considered for your national delegation, contact your national organisers now, as the selection events are already beginning in some countries. There will also be a limited number of places for non-delegates, who will be charged a registration fee. See the Science on Stage Europe websitew2 for details.

 

References

  • Hayes E (2011) Science teachers take to the stage. Science in School 19: 6-9. www.scienceinschool.org/2011/issue19/sons

Web references

  • w1 – To read more about Ørestad Gymnasium, see: www.oerestadgym.dk/welcome
  • w2 – To learn more about Science on Stage Europe, see: www.scienceonstage.eu

Resources

  • For a glimpse inside the Ørestad Gymnasium, see a 24-hour film of the school: www.youtube.com/watch?v=je2Fc4uS9bo

Institution

Science on Stage   

Author

Adam Gristwood studied politics and philosophy at the University of York, UK, before working in events and publishing, focusing on education, local government, policing and science. Since 2009, he has been a communications officer at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory.

Dr Eleanor Hayes is the editor-in-chief of Science in School. She studied zoology at the University of Oxford, UK, and completed a PhD in insect ecology. She then spent some time working in university administration before moving to Germany and into science publishing in 2001. In 2005, she moved to the European Molecular Biology Laboratory to launch Science in School.

CC-BY-NC-ND
Log in to post a comment

Issues

  • Current issue
  • Archive

Institutions

Tools

  • Download article (PDF)
  • Print
  • Share

Related articles

  • Science at home: distance learning with EMBL
  • A chemical bond: Nick Barker, linking schools and universities in the UK
  • Keeping science engaging: Online resources for students during COVID-19
  • The physics of inspiration: teaching in Austria
  • Screen time: fantastic film clips from the EIROs

Login / My account

Create new account
Forgot password


Contact us

Please contact us via our email address editor@scienceinschool.org.

  • More contact details

Get involved

  • Submit an article
  • Review articles
  • Translate articles

Support Science in School


EIROforum members:
CERN European Molecular Biology Laboratory European Space Agency European Southern Observatory
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility EUROfusion European XFEL Institut Laue-Langevin


EIROforum
Published and funded by EIROforum


  • About Science in School
  • About EIROforum
  • Imprint
  • Copyright
  • Safety note
  • Disclaimer
  • Archive
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
ISSN 1818-0361

CERN
European Molecular Biology Laboratory
European Space Agency
European Southern Observatory
European Synchrotron Radiation Facility
EUROfusion
European XFEL
Institut Laue-Langevin
EIROforum

Published and funded by EIROforum
  • About Science in School
  • About EIROforum
  • Imprint
  • Copyright
  • Safety note
  • Disclaimer
  • Archive
  • Donate
  • Contact
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
ISSN 1818-0361