Research on Architectural Planning that Supports the Free Learning Semester Program School Curriculum in Middle Schools

Research on Architectural Planning that Supports the Free Learning Semester Program School Curriculum in Middle Schools Hyejin. Kang Master s course, Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Graduate School, Cheongju University, Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju, South Korea. E-mail: khj1326@naver.com Seonwoo. Lee Dr. of Eng. Course, Dept. of Architectural Engineering, Graduate School, Cheongju University, Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju, South Korea. E-mail: mytopcom@naver.com Jinju. Jung* Assistant Professor, Dept. of Architecture, Cheongju University, Cheongwon-gu, Cheongju, South Korea. *E-mail: jinjuj@cju.ac.kr Abstract In 2016, New education policy and school curriculum called the Free Learning Semester Program in Middle Schools would be applied to all middle schools as it is based on the departmentalized classroom program. To assess how space arrangements of school architecture can correspond to the needs of such educational curriculum, I have analyzed the school curriculum of the free learning semester program in middle schools, studied and analyzed the functions and spaces that need to be planned in response to the free learning semester program in middle schools curriculum. The research was conducted to 8 newly-built (since 2010) middle schools in Chungbuk. The findings would be beneficial for making the policy on architectural planning for future planning of middle schools. Keywords: Free Learning Semester Program, Middle School, School Curriculum Introduction Purpose of the Present Research The adoption of free learning semester program was announced in November 2012 as one of election pledges as it concerns with the developmental stage of adolescents, the adoption of the free learning semester in middle school, for establishment of identity and search for aptitudes and talents, is increasing. Then, the free learning semester program was tested at selected schools in 2013, and the full adoption plan of free learning semester program by all schools was established in 2015. Accordingly, the new education policy and school curriculum called the free learning semester program in middle schools, based on the departmentalized classroom system, are introduced and implemented now. So, the present research aims to investigate how much space arrangements of school architecture can respond to such school curriculum and to help the future planning of middle schools by providing base data and guidance on the architectural plans, based on the case study of the 8 newly-built middle schools in Chungbuk. Scope and Method of Research The present research studied and analyzed the architectural spaces and their functions of new school buildings to find out whether they correspond to creativity, sensitivity, sociability, and health components in the free learning semester program in middle schools. The analysis was made in a way that it examines the concept of the newly introduced free learning semester program in middle schools, the departmentalized classroom system by using the cases of 8 middle schools in Chungbuk that have completed the implementation plans with new buildings or full renovation of existing buildings. Free Learning Semester Program Concept of the free learning semester program in middle schools The original purpose of the free learning semester program is to change the school education from the overly competitive and college entrance-focused education to happy education that promotes aptitudes and talents and develops the abilities needed in the future. According to the Plan for test run of the free learning semester program in middle schools announced by the Ministry of Education, the promoting purpose of the free learning semester program is to help the to find their dreams and talents on their own, to provide opportunities for continued self-reflection and development with the experiences on exploring, considering, and planning their aptitudes and future. It also tries to transform the education focused on knowledge and competition into the education that can enhance self-guided creative learning and future-oriented aptitudes (such as creativity, sensitivity, sociability), and to increase the aptitudes needed in the future society on their own during their happy school life via transforming public education and recovering trust. Also, the free learning semester program in middle schools is a program that allows flexibly to spend a semester on improving the class operation to the student participation form, such as, discussion and practice and experiencing various experiential, such as, career exploration during the middle school curriculum without the pressure of mid-term final exams. 857

Curriculum of the free learning semester program in middle schools 1) General Curriculum Learning method in the free learning semester program shall be designed not to train to accumulate course knowledge but develop the aptitudes of for creative, self-guided learning. It can be done by practicing the processes of identifying a problem and seeking a solution on their own with critical and analytical thinking skills. Also, the teaching shall be done in a way that it does not prioritize the content and amount of the textbooks but focuses on the crucial accomplishment standards and develops holistic thinking skills of by aspiring fusion joint learning type with interand intra-course collaboration. In the participation-typed activity-based classes of basic courses, various collaboration classes can be used. The classes may be diversified by individuals, groups, classes, school years, or schools, depending on the nature of courses and learning topics. In fusion classes, the efficiency of class can be enhanced by trying out various types of fusions, such as not only between basic courses and within course fusion connection, but also between courses, within a course, between a course and an free activity, between learning topics, between classes. Teachers support the classes actively participate, not just as the traditional transporter of course knowledge but as a facilitator, supporter, and mentor. For the goal of allowing the appropriate participation and activity-driven classes, factors such as the class size and the use of school space by need to be considered. 2) Flexible Curriculum It shall be designed in a way that it helps to focus on what they like, what they want to learn, and what they can do well through the free curriculum, and student-centered programs. Activities that comprise the free curriculum can be divided into four categories, such as, career exploration, club, arts sports, and student selection program. 1 Career exploration : Career exploration are to be designed to help to establish the foundation of structured career learning by searching for aptitudes and talents and construct the future on his/her own. They can be run such that a career counseling program helps to realize their interests and talents and meet the specialized professionals for broadening the understanding for a particular profession. Also, day-long experiential learning or career camp can be run, utilizing the mid-term or final exam period. Career exploration include career testing, invited lectures, portfolio making activity, on-site experience, job research, and mock start-up of a company. The schedule consists of basic courses (65%), career exploration (15%), and others (20%), and a free curriculum with the emphasis on career exploration is scheduled. The free curriculum should be composed of 5 hours of career exploration, 2 hours of student selection program, 2 hours of club, 3 hours of arts sports, with the total of 12 hours. 2 Club : Club should be exercised in a way that they maximize the autonomy and self-sustainability. Various can be exercised depending on wishes and preferences and a presentation can be held in collaboration with a festival, a local festival, and a local culture group. Club include book discussions, line dance, mural painting, science experiments, web-toon production, UCC production, astronomical observations, plays, orchestras. The schedule consists of basic courses (65%), club (15%), and others (20%), and a free curriculum with the emphasis on club is scheduled. The free curriculum should be composed of 2 hours of career exploration, 2 hours of student selection program, 2 hours of club, 3 hours of arts sports, with the total of 12 hours. Category Purpose and characteristics Learning contents Operation method Teacher Table 1: Flexible Curriculum (Activities) Career exploration Provide opportunities for career exploration Career and job related contents Student selection In-school teachers and outside lecturers 3 Arts and sports : Club Provide opportunities for autonomous and self-regulating Various contents based on interests Student selection Ran mainly by in-school teachers as supporters Art and Sports education Provide opportunities for various arts and sports Music, painting, sports related contents Student selection In-school teachers and outside lecturers Elective Provide opportunities for learning specialized programs Various contents based on interests Student selection In-school teachers and outside lecturers Arts and sports are supposed to help to find out their talents and capacities by diversifying and reinforcing arts and sports education. By doing so, receive opportunities for holistic developments, such as expressing self, communicating and empathizing with others, and high quality arts education programs in which they can engage in self-guided. Furthermore, depending on each school s needs, by using a form of blocked time, the existing music, painting, and sports classes can be used as a form of student-centered, advanced learning. Arts sports can be freely formed with various topics, such as korean music, dance, cartoon, photography, design, soccer, basketball, volleyball, badminton, and sports league, based on the needs of in each school. The schedule consists of basic courses (66%), club (15%), and others (19%), and a free curriculum with the emphasis on arts sports is scheduled. The free curriculum should be composed of 3 hours of career exploration, 2 hours of student selection program, 3 hours of 858

club, 5 hours of arts sports, with the total of 13 hours. 4 Elective : The purpose of elective is to develop and apply user-centered programs that fit the preferences and interests of users, and by doing so, to boost motivation for learning. Through these programs, experts from various fields participate in the development and running of programs, and by using the infrastructure from the related fields, provide diverse and high quality education. Student s discretionary programs are designed to help to get their own favorite programs, thus attracting their attentions. They includes cooking practice, fashion design, media and communication, drama and culture, and mini company management, and responding to needs. Based on the needs, other than in-school teachers, outside lecturers can be invited. However, for efficient management of the class, such as student attendance, safety accident prevention, and supply purchase, it is recommended for outside lecturers to share the responsibilities for a class or co-teach with an in-school teacher. The schedule consists of basic courses (57%), student selection program (23%), and others (20%), and a free curriculum is scheduled with the emphasis on student selection program. The free curriculum is composed of 3 hours of career exploration, 2 hours of student selection program, 3 hours of club, and 5 hours of arts sports, with the total of 13 hours. Space and its layout that support the free learning semester program in middle schools Case study of middle schools in Chungbok 1) S middle school On the first floor and the second floor where local residents and outside visitors can access, variable doors were placed to either horizontally connect or separate open area and learning area, and, each floor was separated from one another from the third place and on. On the second floor, a science room, a science theory room, work space, and a fusion classroom were zoned for the creation of learning space to train creative via theory and practice classes and presentations and for experiential learning. Also, the second floor was horizontally connected and zoned with math area and vertically connected and zoned with tech, painting, and music areas to allow fusion classes, and composed the STEAM courses area. On the second floor, a club room was placed near a gym and with a door that has the direct access from inside to allow interactions among and performance for interactions with local residents. A tech room, an art room, a music room, and a multipurpose classroom on the first floor were connected through work space which was connected to the courtyard that allowed outdoor learning and experiential learning. 2) Y boarding middle school On the first floor and the second floor where local residents and outside visitors can access, variable doors were placed to either horizontally connect or separate open area and learning area. In the STEAM courses area on the second floor, a shared-use classroom was placed between science room and math classroom and media space was planned to serve the role of work space, facilitating joint class and fusion class. Next to the dormitory, a club building, consisting of a korean music practice room, a samulnori practice room, a fitness room, a dance room, and a club room, was placed to allow various club, and on its second floor, vertically connected a concert hall to use as local culture space for interactions among and among and local residents. An art room and a music room were placed on the first floor and connected to the courtyard, and near the art room, an exhibition corner was placed and to be used in conjunction with a class. 3) Dy boarding middle school Because the school was a two-story building, the variable doors were placed on the first floor and the second floor where local residents and outside visitors can access, in order to horizontally connect or separate the movement flow to and from open area and learning area. A shared-use classroom that can hold more than two classes was placed near the main entrance/exit on the first floor, STEAM courses area on the second floor had home base as work space to allow joint class and fusion class, and a wide deck with rest learning space was placed near the main entrance/exit on the second floor to allow outdoor learning and experiential learning. A club room was placed in conjunction with the dormitory and near an audiovisual room to use as local culture space. Also, a music club room and a painting club room were zoned with the audiovisual room and placed near the courtyard. 4) J middle school On the first floor and the second floor where local residents and outside visitors can access, variable doors were placed to either horizontally connect or separate open area and learning area, and, each floor was separated from one another from the third place and on. The science area on the third floor has the learning space, such as a science room, a science theory room, media space, and an outdoor deck, for theory but also has the practice classes, for presentations and experiential learning. It has doors for going out for field study. Shared-use classroom that faced media space was built with variable walls to allow joint class with the from more than two classes. On the first floor, a club room and an audiovisual room were placed near each other so that they can be connected horizontally. 859

On the third floor, an art room and a music room were zoned together around media space and connected to home base and a large hall. 5) Ds middle school On the first floor, four buildings were zoned with different area and thus learning area and open area were separated by buildings, and the second floor was horizontally separated by variable walls. A tech room, a prep room, and a teacher room on the second floor were placed near an outside deck to allow outdoor class and work, and science room, science theory room, prep room, teacher room, media space, and running counter on the third floor and the fourth floor were zoned to allow theory and practice classes, and presentations and experiential learning, and common space with multipurpose functions that allow joint class and joint work was placed near the hall on the third floor and connected to a rooftop garden. A global classroom on the fourth floor was constructed with to accommodate fusion and joint class for the number of from one class up to three classes with the size of space ranging from small-medium-large. 6) O boarding middle school An audiovisual room and a library that are open area were grouped in one building for separation at the building level. An art room on the second floor was connected to an outside deck, and a tech home making room and a science room on the third floor were also connected to the outside deck to allow outdoor work, and on the fourth floor, a medium-sized lecture room and a large-sized lecture room, and a multipurpose room that can be used for joint class and fusion class were placed in each building. In Os middle school case, a music room was not planned separately, and classes met in an audiovisual room on the first floor which was connected to the courtyard. Figure 1: Spatial layout Analysis Aiding Free Learning Semester Program of S Middle School case 1F Plan 7) Oc middle school Each building was individually planned and connected to each other by bridges. Accordingly, each building was naturally separated from one another, and thus, movement flows were separated. Rest area on the first floor, a medium-sized lecture room on the second floor, an assorted learning room on the third floor were designed to allow joint classes, and on the third floor, a science room, a science theory room, a prep room, media space, and an outdoor observatory were zoned together to create learning space to train creative via theory and practice classes, and presentations, experiential and outdoor learning. A sports room on the first floor, a music room, an art room, and a home making room on the second floor were placed in one building and connected to one another vertically. Figure 2: Spatial layout Analysis Aiding Free Learning Semester Program of S Middle School case 2F Plan 860

Figure 3: Spatial layout Analysis Aiding Free Learning Semester Program of Ds Middle School case 1F Plan Figure 5: Spatial layout Analysis Aiding Free Learning Semester Program of Y Middle School case 1F Plan Figure 4: Spatial layout Analysis Aiding Free Learning Semester Program of Ds Middle School case 2F Plan Figure 6: Spatial layout Analysis Aiding Free Learning Semester Program of Y Middle School case 2F Plan 861

8) Songnisan boarding middle school Because the school was a two-story building on the first floor and the second floor where local residents and outside visitors can access, variable doors were placed to horizontally connect or separate the movement flow to and from open area and learning area. A science room on the first floor was placed near the secondary entrance/exit and connected to outer space. A music room and a seminar room were connected and zoned through a hall to allow presentations and performances. Because the school had a dormitory-typed building, a club room, an entertainment activity room, and a fitness room were placed on the first floor of the dormitory building and connected to outer space. Space and its layout that support the free learning semester program in middle school The space was laid out in a way that it can support the free learning semester program in middle schools that correspond to each component of the free curriculum, such as career exploration, student selection program, club, and arts & sports are shown in Table 2. Table 2: Layout support the free learning semester program in middle school Figure 7: Spatial layout Analysis Aiding Free Learning Semester Program of Dy Middle School case 1F Plan Career exploration Elective Figure 8: Spatial layout Analysis Aiding Free Learning Semester Program of Dy Middle School case 2F Plan open zone & study zone These rooms are placed on the lower level that can provide easy accessed to, and are separated by floors, separated horizontally by variable walls, or by buildings, to separate movement flow to open area. multi-purpose room, library, computer class room, gym, audiovisual room, auditorium The space for class participants to prep is required, and thus, space for an experiential curriculum prep room, an outside lecturer prep room, and a theory lecture room need to be secured, in addition to the existing experiential curriculum classroom, and work space that can be jointly used between classes to allow courses or experiential curriculum classes to achieve collaborative learning and fusion learning. 862

Club Art and Sports education Space for elective When outside experts visit, or programs in which teachers help to experience demonstrations, lectures, and experiential or programs in which from more than two classes engage in joint class or joint work are created, space for such will be needed. Accordingly, the space for class participants to prep is required, and thus, space for an experiential curriculum prep room, an outside lecturer prep room, and a theory lecture room need to be secured, in addition to the existing experiential curriculum classroom, and work space that can be jointly used between classes to allow courses or experiential curriculum classes to achieve collaborative learning and fusion learning. club room, gym, audiovisual room, auditorium A club room and an audiovisual room, a gym, an auditorium, and a multi-purpose room need to be horizontally or vertically zoned together to allow performances, events, and presentation, and to vitalize the interactions not only among themselves but also among and local residents. music classroom, art classroom, workspace, gym, audiovisual room, auditorium, school yard, courtyard Space for the interaction of practiced courses and multipurpose space that can correspond to various indoor sports need to be secured and more programs and space for more diverse indoor outdoor sports are needed to prevent school violence. The space was organized in a way that for career exploration, the space for local residents and the space for learning should be able to be connected to and separated from each other when needed. For student selection program, the space needs to be able to accommodate lecture and experiential learning simultaneously or in conjunction to each other. For club, a club room and the space for presentation need to be able to be connected when needed. For arts sports, a music room, an art room, and a multipurpose room need to be zoned together and space for indoor sport and outdoor sport need to be placed for easy entrance to and exit from each other. Conclusion Space for career exploration Due to the increased number of outside visitors, the increased need for easy access spaces for these visitors is expected, such as a local resident hall, a local resident meeting room, a local resident conference room, a manner room, a waiting room/area, and an outside teacher prep room. These rooms are placed on the lower level that can provide easy accessed to and easy visual management and observation to administrators, and are separated by floors, separated horizontally by variable walls, or by buildings, to separate movement flow to open area that can be accessed by local residents or outside visitors from learning area that can be accessed by selected groups of people. Space for club Various club rooms need to be planned so that they can be adjusted accordingly not only to wishes and preferences but also to the changes in the clubs. A club room and an audiovisual room, a gym, an auditorium, and a multi-purpose room need to be horizontally or vertically zoned together to allow performances, events, and presentations, and to vitalize the interactions not only among themselves but also among and local residents. Space for art and sports Recently, to strengthen sensitivity and emotion education for, each school is guiding the normalization of arts sports classes such as music, painting, technology, home making, and sports, and/or the increase in the number of such classes compared to the existing school curriculum. For corresponding space of arts sports targeted by the free learning semester program in middle schools, space for the interaction of practiced courses and multipurpose space that can correspond to various indoor sports need to be secured and more programs and space for more diverse indoor outdoor sports are needed to prevent school violence. References [1] Kang, H.J, Lee, S.W and Jung, J.J., Case Study of Architectural Plan Aiding the Free Learning Semester Program of Middle School, ASTL, 112, pp.30-34, 2015. [2] Kang, H.J, Architectural layout and space composition aiding the free learning semester program of middle school, Master's degree Thesis, Cheongju University, pp.73-91, 2016. [3] Ministry of Education, (The partial revision of the 2009 revised curriculum) Middle school General Studies curriculum supplemented commentary piece, 2014. [4] Mistry of Education, Ministry of Education Demonstration manage Plan for Middle school-free Learning Semester in 2013, pp.1-17, 2011. [5] Kang, H.J, Jung, J.J., A Study on the Facilities Layout of Lower Floor and Space Characteristics Through Analysis of Newly Established Schools in Chungbuk since 2010 Journal of the Korean Institute of Educational Facilities, Korean Institute of Educational Facilities, Vol.22, No.2, pp.111-118, 2015. 863

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