The Schoolroom: A Social History of Teaching and Learning

by Dale Allen Gyure

Overview

This book examines schoolrooms and their material contents to reveal insights into the evolution of education and the translation of educational theories and cultural ideals into practice.

School attendance is nearly universal in our society, yet very little is known about the history of the classrooms we occupy and the objects we encounter and use in our educational lives. Why are our school classrooms designed as they are? When was the blackboard invented? When did computers start appearing in schools?

Through analysis of classrooms and objects within them, The Schoolroom: A Social History of Teaching and Learning details the history of American education, describing how architects, in collaboration with educators, have shaped learning spaces in response to curricular and pedagogical changes, population shifts, cultural expectations, and concern for children's health and well-being. It illustrates connections between form and function, showing how a well-designed school building can encourage learning, and reveals little-known histories of ubiquitous educational objects such as blackboards, desks, and computers.

• Provides an unprecedented history of the classrooms that so many of us occupy during our most formative years

• Brings readers closer to the design of school buildings

• Explains how spaces and objects influence teaching and learning and reflect educational ideologies

• Details how school buildings have evolved over the years

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781440850370
Publisher:	ABC-CLIO, Incorporated
Publication date:	07/26/2018
Series:	History of Human Spaces
Pages:	215
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Dale Allen Gyure, PhD, is professor of architecture at Lawrence Technological University. He has served on the Boards of Directors of the Society of Architectural Historians and the Frank Lloyd Wright Building Conservancy.

Table of Contents

Preface ix

Introduction xi

Chronology xv

1 The Schoolroom 1

Colonial Beginnings 2

The 19th Century 6

Monitorial Schools 6

Common Schools 8

Graded Schools 10

Pedagogy, Mental Discipline, and Moral Education 13

Lighting 17

Heating and Ventilation 19

Hygiene 24

20th-century Reforms 26

Child Saving 26

Discipline and Order 28

Educational Reforms 30

Modern Schoolrooms 38

The Healthy Classroom 38

The Active Classroom 41

Postwar Variations 47

The Open Classroom 52

The Odd-Shaped Classroom 63

The Windowless Classroom 65

The Technological Classroom 68

2 Schoolhouses 71

Early School Buildings 74

19th-Century Developments 77

The Quincy School 77

Boston Latin and English High School 78

High Schools 80

The Image of the Schoolhouse 87

The Monumental Era 91

Minority Schools 93

Standardization 95

Depression and World War II 99

Interwar Modernism 100

Postwar Experimentation 105

Opening the School 106

The Casual School 112

Curricular Changes 115

Suburban Schools 119

Prefabrication 125

Urban Schools 128

The 1970s and Beyond 138

The 1970s 138

Americans with Disabilities Act 140

The 1980s and 1990s 141

Back to the Future 145

A New Century 146

Showcase Schools 147

Sustainability and Security 150

3 Objects of Education 153

Blackboards 153

Desks and Tables 155

Radio 162

Overhead Projectors 164

Film 165

Television 167

Teaching Machines 169

Computers 172

4 Ancillary Spaces 175

Corridors 175

Outdoor Corridors 182

Lockers 183

Relocatable (Portable) Schoolrooms 185

Epilogue 191

Glossary 193

Bibliography 197

Index 207

Editorial Reviews

"These intertwined stories of education buildings, spaces, objects, methods, and pedagogies provide a backdrop for the general history of education. The usefulness of the reference text is enhanced by the inclusion of a chronology, glossary, bibliography, and index. " - ARBA

From the Publisher