Designing for Connection: Learning Environments That Support Collaboration, Care, and Belonging

This session reflects on the origins and evolution of "We Want a School!", a participatory design project developed with students during the 2020–2021 academic year. From the outset, the work was framed not as an activity or design exercise, but as a "provocation" in the Reggio Emilia sense, meant to open questions rather than produce predefined outcomes. Students were asked a simple question: what would your ideal school look like if you could imagine it freely? What emerged was not a set of design solutions, but recurring ideas about belonging, autonomy, care, and the everyday experience of school. 

Educational environments do more than support instruction. They shape the relationships, interactions, and daily experiences that help students build confidence, communication skills, creativity, empathy, and a sense of belonging. Through intentional planning and design, schools can create spaces that support many forms of connection: between students, across age groups, between learners and adult guides, between students and nature, and between a school and its broader community. The session will highlight practical design strategies that help schools create environments where students feel seen, supported, and prepared to participate in the world beyond the classroom.

Designing for the future of learning begins with a deep understanding of the needs of our littlest learners as at the start of their educational journey. The experiences children have during early childhood - from birth to eight - establish the foundation for later learning and relationships. Outside of the home, the most time children have to establish this foundation is at daycare and school.  Both Montessori and the schools of Reggio Emilia refer to the environment as the "third teacher,” and in this session we will explore the ways in which intentional design can support learning in all domains and support student agency.  This session will provide actionable insights for designers, educators, and administrators looking to create spaces that inspire, support, and engage students from the very beginning of their learning experience.