What is our purpose?

At the Blue Adobe Project, we believe that the current design of schools—architecture, landscape, and curriculum—does not adequately prepare young people to establish the connections that are critical to addressing the environmental challenges pressing upon us. We continue to educate as if the fit between humans and their worlds is not ajar, and as if the consequences are not grave. We mostly do the same things as before, only faster and with greater standardization and less resonance. Redesigning schools requires more than adding programs to the current curriculum. That has only taken us so far, and exacted a high human toll among teachers, students, and their families.

Physical space reflects the educational philosophy of the school. To create schools that better equip people to recognize the complexity of these problems and to actively provide leadership, we must work together not only to develop rigorous integrated programs, but also to intentionally design schools as aesthetic, spirited, and healthful places—more in tune with and attentive to our senses, nourishing each perception. We use architecture and landscape to help us design teaching and learning on a human scale, one that is balanced and functions ecologically.

Our purpose is a basic one, and goes to the heart of the dual commitments of education to individuals and society.  We believe that successful public schools create a heightened sense of community and prepare people to live vital, fully engaged lives.  To create an environment that promotes these values, we intentionally develop programs and sites that teach through an integration of directed inquiry and place-based learning—in and through the environment.

These places and practices are planned to present young people with vibrant, aesthetically inspiring experiences—so that they can see and hear more acutely, experience wonder and joy more often, make deeper connections, embark confidently on new and unfamiliar adventures.

We are convinced that imagination and creativity are essential human qualities, that they can be taught and preserved, and that pattern languages and kinetic intelligences are critical to developing these qualities.  And we believe strongly that these qualities are essential for addressing the problems that face our communities and environments.

What are we doing?

Photo © Peter L. Kresan 2006

Designing schools as thoughtful and sensual spaces for arrival, gathering, and learning;

Collaborating with individuals and organizations to design integrated environments;

Creating a community network of people who are focusing on issues of public health, ecological restoration, and place-based education;

Working with environmental architects and landscape planners to establish ‘green’ designs for the built school environment;

Actively seeking sponsors and partners to develop a strategic plan for The Blue Adobe Project.

Building on Research

We are not alone in this effort, thankfully.  Concerned observations—backed up by a growing body of research—increasingly emphasize the critical relation that persists between the quality of the environment and our connections to it, cognitive and affective learning, and well-being.

Studies increasingly show that:

• Good design matters—environmental features affect our senses of self and belonging, the development of a positive identity and decision-making abilities that lead to personal well-being and community-building.

• Sensuous connections matter—children who form deep, analogical connections with the natural world develop greater thoughtfulness and an ethic of care toward their environment.

• Healthy environments matter—assessing public health dangers and repairing toxic environments can lead to authentic, community-based interventions and actions that promote good public health and environmental justice.

• Strong communities matter—authentic relationships based on trust and security foster greater interdependence, respect, and creativity among all of the members.

Examples of efforts to redesign schools and curricula are becoming more plentiful around the world.  Whether they are called ‘green schools’ or ‘eco-schools’ or ‘healthy schools,’ these schools are modeling ecological principles in their buildings and practices.  Examples include:

• The State of California, in 2003, signed the Education and Environment Initiative into law, integrating education about the environment into the K-12 school system state-wide.

• The School for Environmental Studies at the Minnesota Zoo opened in 1995.

• Secundaria Nuevos Horizontes opened in Hermosillo, Sonora Mexico in 1979 and has a successful environmentally-based curriculum and strong community connections.

• The Toronto School District in Ontario Canada has implemented an ecological curriculum in association with Evergreen, a Canadian national non-profit with a mandate to “bring nature to our cities through naturalization projects.”

• The Eco-Schools Programme, with the support of the European Commission and the UN Conference on Environment and Development 1992, is currently being implemented in several countries in Europe, Africa, and South America.

• The Aim High Headlands Environmental Home Program is in its 10th year in San Francisco, teaching ecology and social justice in and through the out-of-doors.