There was a need to humanize the pedagogy and the learning experience. We moved from a responsive pedagogy to sustaining pedagogy and designed and built around students in that space.
Fielding International was engaged in project Discovery, Visioning, Community Engagement and Consensus Building, Architectural Design, Furniture Selections and Educational Program Alignment for the new High School.
In the process, Fielding gave students a voice and a choice. Our team communicated what matters within a space: mobile seating, choice, connectivity, options, design based on expectations of students that will use the space, and the sharing of ideas that were relevant.
We could not be happier with the results of our partnership [with Fielding] and are excited to welcome our diverse group of high school scholars into the learning environment we designed.”
Fielding developed an education visioning engagement with district leadership to engage faculty, administrators, students, and parents in exploring the demands of schools in the future. During this process, the Sun Prairie School Design Team established guiding principles and learning objectives they considered critical for their community to prepare students for their futures. Using these core documents, Fielding helped Sun Prairie imagine and build a flexible, modern, and adaptive learning environment that would create the conditions and learning spaces to help educators and students achieve their future-oriented outcomes including agency, collaborative work, critical problem solving, and service to others.
The result is a High School design that is authentic for learning experiences. New, innovative learning communities support design principles and forward-thinking curriculum goals.
These flexible learning environments can support teaching and learning needs that will shift over time as new disciplines and methods emerge. The building creates the “practice field” for future generations to learn, explore, and build the competencies and mindsets needed to thrive beyond High School.