Latin School of Chicago

FUTURE Latin���s Mission to Educate Scientific Thinkers for the 21st Century Nearly four years ago, when Latin���s Science Department Chair Steven Coberly was ��� charged with the task of conceiving what a new upper school science center should look like, the possibilities seemed endless. Coberly and his faculty imagined immense potential, not only for building a space but also for further developing an innovative, forward-looking science curriculum. ���I was told, ���You have a floor. You scientists tell us what you want to make this into the ideal teaching space,������ says Coberly. The assignment gave Coberly and his colleagues in the upper school Science Department the freedom to dream. They were given a voice in every aspect of the design, from the layout of the classrooms to the height of the lab tables to the patterns on the wallpaper within the 15,000 square feet that make up the undeveloped fourth floor of the new middle school building. As the science faculty began working with architects and researching some of the most innovative educational lab spaces in the country, they realized that in order to determine their needs in a science space, they would also have to closely consider how they want to teach science. ���Programmatic goals should drive decisions about facilities. And the philosophy behind everything that we���ve been planning is that we need to teach the processes of science rather than just the content,��� Coberly explains. ���We want our students to be able to understand what it means to make careful measurements, to collect data, to use advanced technology for analyzing that data, to draw inferences and to go out and do science themselves and not just repeat what is already known.��� ���We want our students to be able to . . . go out and do science themselves and not just repeat what is already known.��� ��� Steven Coberly, MS/US Science Department Chair Latin School of Chicago 23

• Cover