Creating a Studio/Lab Environment Podcast

Professional Development

Creating A Studio/Lab Environment

As you begin to setup your classrooms, and create learning environments fostering creativity and engage students in meaningful learning, I hope you’ll listen to this podcast! One of the most powerful ways you can encourage and build STEAM in and through your classroom is by utilizing the Studio/Lab environment setup model.  In this podcast, we’ll discuss a key chapter in my book, ”No Permission Required (out of publication)“, on creating classroom environment and behaviors facilitating STEAM.

Key Notes from the Podcast

• Studio environments are areas of trust. So, artists are free to experiment without fear of failure
• Studios are open space without distractions.  So, there is a focus on the tools and the artists themselves.
• A studio also offers an ability to critique your own work and foster self-reflection.
• Try using the studio as an idea generator.  Have students work in collaborative teams organized by their different strengths to work through a problem.
• Studios do not have to be permanent.  You can create a studio simply by moving the desks/chairs back against the walls.
• Lab environment encourage experimentation in a structured, documented way.
• The classroom lab environment space can be used as a conduit for turning the questions explored in the studio into transformative and practical solutions.
• You can create the lab environment space with tables or desks organized in longer tables, providing workstations and dedicated zones for each phase of experiments and having areas dedicated for research and development.

If you found this podcast helpful, you’re going to love the book No Permission Required (out of publication)!  It’s full of ideas like these to take STEAM to a new level in your classroom.  Happy STEAMing!