Building School 2.0

Ninety-five propositions for creating more relevant, more caring schools There is a growing desire to reexamine education and learning. Educators use the phrase "school 2. 0" to think about what schools will look like in the future. Moving beyond a basic examination of using technology for classroom instruction, Building School 2. All too often technology has become the focal point when discussing the school of the future. Rather than simply offering an examination of how using technology for classroom instruction changes education, Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need offers a larger discussion of how education, learning, and our physical school spaces can—and should—change in order to give students the education they deserve. Building School 2.0 is based on the work done at Science Leadership Academy (SLA) and its founding principal Chris Lehmann and former SLA teacher Zac Chase. ­Lehmann and Chase reveal the challenges of changing how we educate our children and the ­techniques and approaches they employed to create a school that is technology-rich, collaborative, and learner-centric. As the authors explain, the best educational strategies enable networked learning that allows research, creativity, communication, and collaboration to help prepare students to be functional citizens within a modern society. The model outlined in Building School 2.0 presents ninety-five theses that are ­designed to help educators and administrators—in all schools both private and public—­examine specific practices in their own schools. These ninety-five theses are written with the intention to open conversations and elicit questions for educators and administrators to explore with colleagues. Lehmann and Chase challenge educators, administrators, and parents to construct more modern and humane spaces for our most cherished resource: our students. Ninety-five propositions for creating more relevant, more caring schools There is a growing desire to reexamine education and learning. Educators use the phrase "school 2.0" to think about what schools will look like in the future. Moving beyond a basic examination of using technology for classroom instruction, Building School 2.0: How to Create the Schools We Need is a larger discussion of how education, learning, and our physical school spaces can—and should—change because of the changing nature of our lives brought on by these technologies. Well known for their work in creating Science Leadership Academy (SLA), a technology-rich, collaborative, learner-centric school in Philadelphia, founding principal Chris Lehmann and former SLA teacher Zac Chase are uniquely qualified to write about changing how we educate. The best strategies, they contend, enable networked learning that allows research, creativity, communication, and collaboration to help prepare students to be functional citizens within a modern society. Their model includes discussions of the following key concepts:

• Technology must be ubiquitous, necessary, and invisible
• Classrooms must be learner-centric and use backwards design principles
• Good technology can be better than new technology
• Teachers must serve as mentors and bring real-world experiences to students

Each section of Building School 2.0 presents a thesis designed to help educators and administrators to examine specific practices in their schools, and to then take their conclusions from theory to practice. Collectively, the theses represent a new vision of school, built off of the best of what has come before us, but with an eye toward a future we cannot fully imagine.