Sandra Duncan

Sandra is an international specialist on early childhood environments. She has conducted extensive research on the psychology of places and spaces, specifically how children engage with built environments and natural surroundings. Sandra applies and blends the pedagogical theories of Piaget and Vygotsky and the approaches of Reggio Emilia, Montessori, and Waldorf when creating holistic designed places for young children. Dr. Duncan’s acclaimed framework of design, The Potential Place, encourages us to create and design learning environments at the intersection of child and space where the spatial conditions of emotions (i.e., kinship, power, awe, thrill, and refuge) reside.  

Dr. Duncan has worked directly with children for decades and is an author of seven books focused on the environmental design of early childhood places including nature-based environments, designer of four furniture collections called Sense of Place, Sense of Place for Wee Ones, Sense of Place for Infants, and Sense of Place Elementary, and adjunct faculty at Nova Southeastern University. Sandra has written two university-based courses on environments (Walden University and Association for Learning Environments) and is currently teaching university courses on built early learning environments, collaborating with architects, interior designers, and educators to create extraordinary places and possibilities for children and students of all ages. She is a senior early childhood specialist with Education Design International, a globally acclaimed architect firm that specializes in the design of innovative schools and learning environments.