Eco-Cubby: footprint on the world

Environmental Education @ Berwick Fields Primary School

Berwick Fields Primary School participated in Eco-Cubby in 2010.

Check out their Environmental Education blog.

The school has created a magnificent wetland (lucky kids!)

Green Schools Conference

Last week I popped into the Green Schools Conference to see one of this years Eco-Cubby schools (Berwick Fields Primary) talk about how they integrate sustainability practices into their school. Principal Stephen Wigney and Environmental Education teacher Adam Surmacz are passionate about their school and strive to engage students in authentic learning experiences about sustainability. They talked about their Eco-Cubby experience as part of their commitment to providing exciting opportunities for their students.

schematic layout of the designs (excuse the poor quality pics, they were snapped on my phone!)

one of the models

Berwick Fields Primary School

The kids (and teachers and Architects) have been very busy at Berwick Fields Primary School

I visited the school for a fast and furious morning session. Firstly the children were placed in groups to learn about:

ORIENTATION - Architect Fiona Lew talked about roof shapes, ventilation, window placement, sun direction, shading and ventilation. She also showed the children one of the fantastic models she had made.

SUSTAINABILITY - Teacher Mr. Surmacz took children on a tour of the school grounds to show some of the sustainability initiatives they have in place such as; wetland, water tanks and internal courtyard.

BUILDING MATERIALS - Architect/Teacher Sara McCunnie talked to students about insulation and the various building materials used. She demonstrated the effectiveness of insulation using thermoses. One thermos was filled with iced water, the other was filled with boiling water - the children felt the temperature of each thermos on the outside (cool and warm). When the water was poured out they saw the ice and the steam and recognised the materials used inside the thermos kept the heat/cold from escaping.

Students then continued on in their groups to refine their mini models using some of the sustainable design principles they had learnt about in the previous sessions. After presenting their refinements to the rest of the class, they went on to do some serious maths - measuring each other to create a 1:20 scale model of themselves. This will help them understand scale when they make their 1:20 model.

Fiona discusses orientation

experimenting with window coverings - vines / blinds

 

Students explore the wetland and indoor courtyard

Students marvel at one of Fiona Lew's models

Mrs McCunnie explains insulation using thermoses

Mr. Surmacz discusses placement and orientation

a model emerges

measuring each other to create a 1:20 scale model of our bodies

Mr Surmacz's 1:20 scale model person

Berwick Fields Primary School

Here's what happened in session two @ Berwick Fields.

We began the day with Fiona Lew and Sara McCunnie discussing different examples of indigenous buildings. This included  examples from Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia and the Torres Strait. We discussed issues of climate, material availability and suitability. Through the discussion we compiled a list of the elements of a building such as wall or windows, platforms or foundations.

The students then broke away into mixed groups and were given a mix of around 10 materials to examine in light of our discussion. The range of materials included bricks, milk bottles, billboard fabric, bamboo, grass, timber, glass, insulation and cardboard. The groups discussed the properties of each material and drew a proposed cubby incorporating what they had been give.

As we reflected on the results it was amazing to see the deep thinking that had been going on. Most groups were able to critically consider the properties of the materials and decide where they might be best used in a cubby. We felt this was very important to the project as we would like to reuse and recycle materials where possible in the construction of the cubby. Students were also aware of issues such as ventilation, lighting and weather protection. Some of the final designs included sky lights, rooftop gardens, slides and verandas!

Following on from the previous session we decided to introduce a recycled object that has been chosen to form the basis for our Eco-Cubby.  Considering factors of cost, portability, availability and sustainability we have decided to reuse shipping containers. The second session began with a tour of the shipping containers currently at Berwick Fields. These are used for storage currently but we were able to go around and inside the space to explore the ‘feel’ of a shipping container.

We explained that the cubby could include up to 3 units in a configuration. It was great to see many of the students immediately discussing issues of ventilation, lighting and safety. Back in the classroom we then constructed paper rectangular prisms to consider possible configurations. They considered a variety of openings, ways of increasing internal space and ways to use the ‘off cuts’ from the modifications. Again, there were some creative results including multi-story arrangements, courtyards, barbecue areas and annexes.

The students are doing a fantastic job and we look forward to our next session!

talking to the architects

investigating the shipping containers

experimenting with placement of the shipping containers on the site

making models

Berwick Fields Primary School

Here's an update from Adam Surmacz, Environmental Education Teacher

At Berwick Fields the Eco-Cubby group is made up of 40 students from Prep-6 who were all selected by their classroom teacher based on their interest in building or sustainability. Fiona Lew from Bent Architecture, Sara McCunnie, a volunteer architect for a civil engineer and myself took the session. The group was absolutely buzzing (as much as me) with ideas for the first session and were very eager to take part. For the first seminar day we arranged the students in multi-age groups where they built a free-standing drinking straw tower with limited time, tape and straws. It is a classic team-building exercise and the students responded very enthusiastically. Fiona, Sara and I were surprised by the results and the rich discussion hat came out of it. Many of the students were able to discuss the group dynamics and how that contributed to their level of success in the building. Beyond that there was a great demonstrated knowledge of what building designs worked and why, how limitations of materials or scope can effect a design and some surprising engineering language like ‘bracing’ and ‘reinforcing’. Having had some time to get to know each other we turned out focus to cubbies and recorded all of our thinking in a group brainstorm.

After the morning break we set out to explore out school grounds and gather some observational drawings in our teams. Sara, Fiona and I supervised a share of the groups each and took the students to different areas of the school to discuss the form and function of parts of buildings through a series of prompting questions. Many of the students were able to discuss why a roof might slope in a particular direction or the many functions of windows but there were many who you could see were starting to see the school ground through different eyes. We collated our drawings in a series of group collages which incorporated our drawings as well as images of the environment from magazines and fabric.

While our first seminar day schedule was ambitious we were able to move through the sessions pretty smoothly. By time we ended the session for lunch we were exhausted – teacher and students alike! We are all looking forward to getting into the second seminar session in a fortnights time.

In other news Eco Cubby at Berwick Fields was featured in our local community newspaper. The students were very excited to have a photographer visit and see them working.

group work: straw tower exercise - presenting the tallest tower...

Brainstorming: What is a cubby...?

Collage making

student drawings from a site observation walk