The Third Teacher

by OWP/P Architects, VS Furniture, Bruce Mau Design

Created by an international team of architects and designers concerned about our failing education system, The Third Teacher explores the critical link between the school environment and how children learn, and offers 79 practical design ideas, both great and small, to guide reader’s efforts to improve our schools. Written for anyone who has school-age children in their life, from educators and education decision-makers to parents and community activists, this book is intended to ignite a blaze of discussion and initiative about environment as an essential element of learning. Including a wealth of interviews, facts, statistics, and stories from experts in a wide range of fields, this book is a how-to guide to be used to connect with the many organizations, individuals, and ideas dedicated to innovating and improving teaching and learning. Contributors include children’s singer and advocate Raffi, author and creativity consultant Sir Ken Robinson, scientist and environmentalist David Suzuki, inventor James Dyson, and other experts who are working to create fresh solutions to problems and create a new blueprint for the future of education.

Genres: Education, Design, Teaching, Architecture, Professional Development, Nonfiction, School

254 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2010

About the author

O'Donnell Wicklund Pigozzi and Peterson, Architects Inc.

Reviews

[Aniq Zahrudin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A really good book for teachers and school principals to reads. Improving education is needed because if we teach today's students as we taught yesterday's, we rob them of tomorrow (J.Dewey).

Will open and browse again and again.

[Nurlan Imangaliyev · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a book (or rather a huuuge infographic) that every policy-maker and school administrator should have on his/her desk at all times. I really liked that the authors themselves admit that this book is an incomplete collection of all the possible ideas to improve the learning environment (they even allocate some pages for you to fill in your own ideas).

[Felicia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Actually this is my second time going through this book - while not everything is necessarily applicable in all contexts, it still makes for a useful reference point if you are working with learning spaces for children. I find myself referring to it each time I am working on a project and many of the points are quite important. That said, you actually do need to follow up on some of the individual recommendations to get more concrete recommendations on how to apply some of the points. Lots of case studies and interviews which are great for quotes. Do keep in mind that the book is written by architects so design does take a front seat - you will need to temper it with your own experience.

[Brenda · Rating 4 out of 5]

A Design for Learning initiative at our school has led to discussions at staff and PLC meetings about how to design classroom spaces that are conducive to learning for all children. This book was mentioned as a resource so I decided to read it. The book was a relatively quick read as there are many photographs and quotes. I agreed with much of what the book had to say. Schools were designed years ago when life was much different. Children need places where they can move both in and outdoors, a connection to nature, classes that connect the disciplines (art, music, science, math, language arts, etc.), good food, access to technology, opportunities to collaborate with classmates and room/building designs that easily allow this to happen, opportunities to share and discuss ideas as a whole group, and the list goes on. The book talked about what children need in a school and then gave examples of how it is being done around the world. As our school moves into creating more of a design space for learning today, my challenge is how to take my small space and create something more user friendly for students. This book provided a lot of good food for thought.

[Delia Turner · Rating 3 out of 5]

Because it was designed by architects and ignores everything book designers know about readability, the book is almost unreadable. Important statements are put in our lines of huge text in a white font on a black background with nothing else on the page, for instance, and illustrations are thrown on the page in a bunch so it's hard to figure out what's going on. However, it has some very interesting ideas for school design, some more workable than others, and it serves as an excellent starting point for thinking about schools outside the "eggcrate" factory-style model. Having worked in some schools with odd-shaped rooms and meandering hallways and others originally designed with the "open classroom" no-walls approach, I would argue that it's more important to change the belief system of a school than its building plan, however.

[Gloria · Rating 2 out of 5]

Okay, the low-ish star is due to the accessiblity of this book. The content I am in support of, have been "preaching" but useability of this book is pretty low. Designers actually getting in the way of things, or in some ways, undermining what they are trying to teach.

I was comforted to learn that one of my new graduate students who actually worked with the group who developed the content of this book, has designed a hand-out that will make the contents more accessible, by theme, for educators and administrators. She pointed out that the book demands that you have a designer sit down with you in your planning, which may be why the design is so complex?

*sigh*

[Amanda · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to give this book to every teacher I know. It is a collection of all of the major thinkers of progressive education and their ideas. It is eminently browsable and inspiring. All of the research that supports each small essay is cited so that you can easily get to the source and read more on whichever topic interests you most.

The binding, however, is utter crap. I didn't need a bookmark because I could just go to the pages that were still glued in. The sewn binding is holding, but I'm disappointed that it isn't more durable. This is a book that I will want to open and browse again and again.

[Georgia English · Rating 3 out of 5]

I both loved and despised this book.
I loved being introduced to thoughtful concepts around making an environment/space an active teaching tool itself. As i design a learning space of my own, this book inspired lots of creativity in how to set up my space. “Treat your learning space like a museum” expanded my mind in a huge way and had me creating book Corners, self learning Spaces, and engaging self-guides activities. My students have loved it!

There was a stinky wave of educational neoliberalism, with lots of alignment to educational parasites like KIPP schools, privitization, saviorism and cultural assimilation.

The book was rich in vision and dreams but on a large systemic level much of what they offered is not possible beyond their case examples of charter, private, and european public schools, all of which allow more autonomy in school design than traditional public schools.

I loved learning about school specific architecture and the consulting and knowledge around education and child psychology it requires.

[Alex K · Rating 5 out of 5]

so many great lessons - made me want to go back to education and for that reason alone, this is 5 stars for me.

ken robinson, john dewey are the two people I distinctly remember being deeply inspired by as a college student studying educational studies. It was really nice to see their works mentioned.

I went to grad school with an ambition to redesign learning environments for students of diverse needs and backgrounds. I hope to make it happen, even more so after reading this.

[Fatema Hussein · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book, a true eye opener of the different aspects that affect the education of children. For those just getting into education, this is a great place to start. Although the book speaks of concepts and ideologies almost 10 years old now, in many parts of the world they are still not seen as significant and are ignored.

[Stuart Macalpine · Rating 4 out of 5]

A really solid overview of what matters when designing learning spaces - good research and links. I found it useful, as many of the things Green School tried to do were intuitive, and we wanted the research to explore and rationalise what we felt were good ideas. The book has all of what we were looking for - from the importance of clean air, to the role of nature.

[Mr Thomas Cochrane · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good read for anyone interested in design in schools

I got a lot out this book. Would recommend to designers and anyone interested in education whether your a teacher or a politician

[allison · Rating 4 out of 5]

design in this book was done really well and it was super snappy/not a bog to read! all the companies involved made me question its accuracy a bit, though, despite the fact i thought it was right otherwise

[Ilse · Rating 3 out of 5]

Visually interesting.

[Carrie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The third teacher opens up the discussion about the impact of design of spaces and places on learning. Good read.

[Erwin Huang · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok, want more illustrations

Need more illustrations to show the ideas
Some are very simple but useful concepts but
Not immediately for practical school designers

[Assem Malika · Rating 5 out of 5]

There is still so much humanity needs discover about this world and our ways of learning.

[Ali Shamaee · Rating 3 out of 5]

Compelling ideas shadowed by all the exaggerating designs.

[Madeline taylor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sensible thinking as far as design and success rates go - but only going to happen in the most idealistic and wealthy of educational systems.

[Lindsay · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some good ideas, but could use an update!

[Ryan T · Rating 2 out of 5]

Picked my way through. Promoted as actionable for anyone but realistically this is only valuable if you're in a position to design a school building or buy expensive furniture. Fine enough ig

[Meghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was not excited to begin reading a book on the role of spaces in education created by a group of architects, but I was very pleasantly surprised by The Third Teacher. It forces contemplation regarding the natures of schools and how one should exist as a student or a teacher or a community member in relation to the education of future generations.

I will disagree with some other reviews in that I really enjoyed the design of this book. I thought that the overall structure was very conducive to the flow of ideas in the work and allowed for quick transitions - it kept what could have been a very dry subject fun.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone, I would say that it would be a really interesting read for those who have not considered the structure of schooling since they themselves were students. This book points out some really obvious but incredibly important things that community members have the power to change now (i.e. the use of cleaning agents containing toxic materials in schools where children are still young enough to be licking things to make other students laugh).

[Dave Rothacker · Rating 5 out of 5]

If I were to rate this book's binding and construction, I'd give it a one star. Fifty or so pages in it fell apart.

I'd also give the book a low mark on the flow of content. For me it was very distracting reading the large numbered pages that took a 64K look and have the more in depth content on the pages to the left.

I come to the field of education to learn and get ideas for other industries. That might sound pretty weird given the overall state of at least American education. But I am convinced there is more to learn about running a business by immersing ones self in a Kindergarten class than some MBA programs out there. K-Kids learn and create stuff without being managed. Imagine if they could make it through school and into the world of work while staying in this state.

My high rating is based on the book's integration of design and education and on the ocean of ideas and thoughts it stimulated.

[Mike Smart · Rating 3 out of 5]

I kept feeling like I should have liked this book a lot more than I did, and I'm still struggling a bit to understand why it never grabbed me. The book is a collection of 79 ideas for using design to transform teaching, which on the surface of things sounds like compelling content. The problem I had was that often each idea was a starting point for a conversation that the authors never did much with. While some of the ideas were good, the subsequent content wasn't tremendously helpful in expanding on those ideas.

I guess I'm glad I read it, as I feel like I can refer back to the ideas now and then as inspiration for thinking of things differently. But still, it was a slog to get through, and I was hoping for more from the book.

[Kyle · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is very visually compelling. It also inspired me to think of creative ways to make my learning space more playful, comfortable, homelike, flexible and conducive to creativity. Text-wise, it was more disappointing. This book was clearly written by design experts rather than educators. The research they site is flimsy and the text is shallow. I would recommend THE THIRD TEACHER in the same way I would recommend an inspired glossy home design magazine--but this one is eye candy for the teacher.

[Stephanie Martin · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loooved this book! It's not a novel, more of a coffee table book so I don't think the layout made it not worthwhile as some reviewers said. I took a few pages of notes and am passing it around our school. I'm excited about t incorporating some of the concepts into project based learning next year. In particular, I love how each chapter begins with a two page infographic On its theme. I plan to use the one from "access" as an entry event for a social justice pbl. How great to tie our class novel, Monster, to real statistics and, unfortunately, current events.

[Michael Huen · Rating 4 out of 5]

It's more like a list of things to think about when approaching the topic of reinventing education and teaching. But the way the book is laid out and designed makes it a pleasurable list. There aren't really any solid answers to "transforming" teaching and learning, but it helps you come to your own conclusions.

[amy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Aims to bring educators and designers together to fix everything; ignores the impracticality of building new schools in many school districts, but many of the suggestions here can be reframed as incremental change. Less the Massive Change than the Slow-and-Steady Change of K-12. Review coming soon at BookMarks.

[Jason Hando · Rating 5 out of 5]

An outstanding book for 21st century school design - from building design right through to community connections. I love the fact that this book doesn't just repeat the same old ideas - it looks afresh at elements to school. Let's get out of the rut of factory schools and replace the conveyer belts with creativity hubs.

[Rebecca · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are good ideas and case studies presented, but the book was poorly laid out. An ironic thing to say when the book was produced by designers, but there it is. They were so obsessed with keeping one of the design themes that a number of articles were broken in jarring ways that made them challenging to follow.