Background to the report Despite resistance to open plan classrooms in many countries, the movement towards innovative learning environments continues in parts of Europe, especially Scandinavia, Australia and New Zealand. Their definition (ILEs), is an ongoing discussion in itself and their success is dependent on many aspects. However, understanding the changes in pedagogic approaches, including […]
Education
Harmful noise is prevalent in Danish schools
An extensive well-being survey maps noise problems in Danish schools. About one in ten children from preschool to the third grade can’t hear the teachers instruction because of noise. Sound and acoustics is sadly often far down on the list of priorities in the design of buildings. However, this problem becomes particularly absurd when even […]
Global School User Survey has acoustics questions!
Title image credit: Cover from the OECD School User Survey. The newly launched OECD School User Survey is designed to support the improvement of learning spaces by empowering school users. Significantly for us as acoustic enthusiasts, among the broad range of holistic topics and important aspects that it covers, the survey also includes 5 acoustic […]
Better speech communication and learning in the classroom
At this years Transitions18 Education research seminar in Copenhagen, Viveka Årlander Lyberg Associate Professor at Lund University, presented the latest developments around Suvi Karjulainen’s PhD “Better communication and learning in the classroom”. This unique and applied study around the quality of speech communication for teachers and students also links to the investigation of the classroom […]
School acoustic research overview says minimise sound levels whilst maximising speech intelligibility
Professor Emeritus Bridget Shield recently presented a comprehensive school acoustic research overview at the Transitions18 education research symposium in Copenhagen. Bridget’s overview highlighted that the importance of acoustics in schools has been know about for a long time although the research has only really accelerated over the last 50+ years. BS looked at the typical […]
Acoustics is part of the conversation – when transitioning to innovative learning environments
For the second year running the University of Melbourne and the ILETC project organised a series of three Transitions18 research symposia around learning spaces in Melbourne, Phoenix co hosted by Steelcase and Copenhagen co hosted by Ecophon. Attending the Copenhagen event, there was a wealth of groundbreaking research studies and discussions about the transition of […]
Do you know many open plan schools which really work acoustically? – School Case Study 3
Well, here’s a good example: An activity based acoustic design approach and living with an open plan school – School Case Study 3 This 3rd post in the series exploring – “How open should a learning space be?” Is a follow up to the 2nd post about the existing Dutch DeWerkplaats school building utilising sliding doors which […]
Sliding doors combined with good acoustics enable more student-centric learning – School Case Study 2
Ecophon’s EDUnet Group has been looking into this case study for the past three years and has now gone a bit deeper and presented the findings at Euronoise 2018. To share more about why it works educationally and how the learning spaces perform acoustically as to inform the acoustic design of future innovative learning environments (ILEs). This school […]
Inhabiting informal learning spaces – Workplace Trends Learning Environments Conference London
Acoustic Bulletin goes beyond just the acoustic presentation to bring you the broader issues at the recent the Design and Management of Learning Environments in London on May 17th The programme and discussions during the day focused on the building design and spaces, how they are managed to optimize more effective learning and experience for students. The […]
Euronoise 2018 – Room acoustics and learning environments
Did you miss out? Our editor Pauli Pallaskorpi, Concept Developer for Education in Finland, attended Euronoise in Crete – and here are his main takeaway bullet points from the afternoon session: Effect of room acoustics and noise on speech intelligibility and task performance in schools’. Experimental investigation of effect of background noise and reverberation on listening comprehension […]
