#raechel_with_an_e

Check out my latest DLR Group Insight!

In 1999, the oft-cited Heschong Mahone study revealing the importance of daylighting was published. The research correlated the prominence of daylighting to improved elementary student test scores, pushing the pendulum away from ar...

Check out my latest DLR Group Insight!

As I've reached the halfway point of my Fulbright scholarship, I took an opportunity to revisit conversations I had with leaders from 15 Texas school districts prior to my February 2017 departure for Australia. Districts ranged fro...

I want to start by saying that yes, open spaces can be effective if the pedagogy aligns. Schools that have great success realize they are not intended for direct instruction and leadership and teachers shift pedagogy to focus on team-teaching and leverage the space to...

Check out my latest Insight for DLR Group!

I’ve been in Australia for more than four months now, and am excited to share this latest update on the research variables in my study of innovative learning environments. The Innovative Learning Environments and Teacher C...

Through the wonders of the internet (specifically, The Listserv), I met a new friend who happens to be a teacher at a school in Hanoi. Thus, when we started planning our trip to Vietnam, I reached out to set up a visit and jumped at the chance to not only tour the scho...

When I help plan a school, each choice has a purpose. The size and shape of a room afford for certain activities, the technology in place and its location can support various types of instruction, color choice can create a certain mood. However, in a time in which I am...

In addition to my research goals, I came to Australia to visit as many schools as possible and I picked a great one for my first deep-dive visit. This week, I spent the day with Anne Knock, Director of Development at the Sydney Centre for Innovative Learning (SCIL) bas...

I admit that this was published a few weeks ago but I have been too chicken to listen to it! (who loves listening to their own voice, really?). However, what you will find is a conversation on school design, culture, and the struggles that co-working and school spaces...

Last week I had the pleasure to be hosted at "Steelcase University" in Grand Rapids, Michigan for a day of learning with their thought-leaders and researchers. The trip itself was with some of my lovely DLR Group coworkers to expose us to the front-lines of interior de...

​I'm on vacation right now; our first stop was through Munich, Germany for Oktoberfest. I'll get to bragging about the beer and revelry another time but first, a story. As we were eating breakfast the first morning,  I saw a bunch of young children building a garden in...