Design Lab to replace Library as fourth Special
This week an email went out to parents of WCASD elementary students from Assistant to the Director of Teaching and Learning Rebecca Eberly and Supervisor of Elementary Mathematics and Science Ian Kerr. “Big news WCASD Elementary Families!” it began. I don’t know about you but I am always a bit leery when someone seems overly eager to sell a change.
And as expected this exciting news came with a but – as in, we are introducing an exciting new Design Lab program for kids, but we are going to have to kill library class to do it. For those without elementary kids in the district, West Chester elementary schools use a four-day “specials” rotation. A special is an extracurricular activity all students participate in. Currently, the specials are Art, Music, Physical Education, and Library – and they have been since the district introduced a full-day kindergarten program in 2017. Before that, the district had a “flexible” library.
A flexible library removes the class from the standard rotation and instead encourages teachers to work with school librarians to integrate the curriculum on an as-needed basis. Getting ready to launch a big research project? A teacher can schedule time in the library to review the research methods available to students.
Ensuring “flexible” doesn’t mean forgotten
Proactive communication will be critical because even without the dedicated weekly time, schools will still be responsible for teaching library standards and skills, and as East Goshen Librarian Beth Gendron put it in her presentation to the School Board. – “Make sure [students] are not going to the classroom and Googling everything.”
The District admits that next year will be a learning experience, especially regarding circulation and equitable access. Kindergarteners and first graders will begin the year with a weekly 30-minute library period. Second through fifth graders will move immediately to “flexible circulation.”
“The idea is a student comes to the library to get what they need when they need it,” said Beth.
Will relying on kids to self-police their reading habits lead to a dip in reading times? The District doesn’t think so.
“We believe open circulation will increase students’ interest in books based on their reading needs,” said Molly Schwemler, Manager of District Communications. “Our fast readers can check out books every day or two, while older students can check out a thicker book and take the time needed to finish the book.”
That said, the District will be watching. “We will be keeping an eye on that,” said Dr. Eberly told Board Members. “The more we read the better readers we become. The better learners we become the more we thirst for knowledge and ask questions. We recognize that, and that was really grounded in a lot of our decision-making throughout this school year,” she said.
Introducing engineering design with empathy
So, with library gone what will be filling its place you ask? Well, this is the fun part. Beginning next year, students will take part in a Design Lab program. Every four days, students will get a chance to engage in the engineering design process with a social-emotional twist. In Design Lab, the creative process begins with empathy before diving into the process standards of defining, ideating, prototyping, and testing.
Each school will have its own full-time Design Lab teacher.
“Eight current WCASD teachers will transition to Design Lab teachers. Six will remain at their current buildings, and two will transfer to another elementary school,” said Molly. In addition, the district is hiring three new teachers.
To illustrate how the process would work, Design Lab teachers took members of the Education Committee through a brief demonstration. Board members were asked to graph their emotion levels over the previous day, marking both the day’s high and low points. They then shared the events of the graph with a partner who was asked to come up with ways to improve the day. Designers had three opportunities to brainstorm ideas but each came with a unique constraint. For example, the solution must involve a robot or cost a lot of money. While here the demonstration ended, in a Design Lab setting students would then use available materials to create and test a prototype making changes where needed.
Teachers are hoping to use the process to highlight the importance of failure in the design process – teaching students to “fail forward.”
The changes are being instituted in response to Pennsylvania’s Science, Technology & Engineering, Environmental Literacy & Sustainability (STEELS) Standards. The new academic standards were adopted in 2022 by the State Board of Education in order to, “prioritize a shift away from memorization of facts to having students productively participate in scientific discourse and practices.” Schools have until June 30, 2025, to comply with the new standards.
The district is holding three information sessions on the changes beginning on Monday at Fern Hill. You can find more information and sign up for an information session here.
Originally published on Apr. 26, 2024
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