Open plan interiors in school design provide excellent opportunities for cutting costs by optimizing in construction and electric comfort conditioning. Important considerations to keep in mind when planning for the open concept. (Author)

The parents of the school children at the First Montessori School in Atlanta, Georgia, not only raised money for the new school facility, but actually helped construct it. (Author)

An interview with Richard Fleischman, an architect, who thinks most school buildings are dull and deficient in qualities that arouse the spirit and emotion of their inhabitants. Bellflower Elementary school in Mentor, Ohio, designed by Fleischman, is built of earth with trees and two cobblestone streets inside. (Author/MLF)

Two major academic lofts on an upper level, an exploratory education loft on the lower level, and five chairless levels rising from a forum's sunken stage area reflect this school's philosophy that a school building must support diverse kinds of activity. (Author/EA)

The two problems which pose a grave threat to the open classroom technique in both England and the United States are: (1) the fad psychology of education reform and (2) the tendency to confuse the open classroom freedom with mere chaos'' and neglect of children. (21 references) (Author/NH)

Tells how one elementary principal recycled'' four self-contained classrooms into a one-pod, open plan space for 100 first graders. (Author)

Author is Coordinator of Middle School Teacher Education Programs at the University of Florida at Gainesville. (Editor)

As more and more districts scurry to remodel outdated buildings and individual rooms, the detailed how-to-do-it sometimes gets lost in the overall planning. This article furnishes specific help in ways to remodel economically. (Author/JN)

Gives reasons for building open plan schools, provides observations on team teaching styles, and compares the concept of open education with that of open plan schools. (JF)