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Sustainable classrooms: mud walls, rainwater and visits fromlizards‘It’s learning-by-living rather than chalk-and-talk’ – Matthew Jenkin explores the schools at the cutting edge of sustainability

Matthew JenkinTuesday 6 October 2015 15.42 BST

Nestled among the swaying palms and lush jungle of Bali is an international school where children learn in bamboopavilions and read from whiteboards made out of recycled car windows. The classrooms, which have no walls, aredesigned to help pupils feel more connected to their natural surroundings while studying a curriculum with anenvironmental twist. It has been hailed as the greenest school on Earth, but it is actually one of many adapting to the

changing climate.

Green school Bali is the brainchild of John and Cynthia Hardy, who moved from North America to the Indonesian paradise in the1970s. They sold their successful jewellery business in 2007 and used the profits to start a school that would pioneersustainability in education. The couple had the idea after searching for a school for their children but being put off by theunimaginatively designed spaces and curriculums on offer.

Since first opening its doors in 2008 with just 98 students, the school has expanded to house more than 400 young people.Although it has been criticised for its high fees and lack of Indonesian students, the school has received international praise for itsinnovative approach to education. Last year, United Nations secretary general Ban Ki-moon called it the “most unique andimpressive” school he’d ever visited.

The curriculum is taught with an emphasis on project-based learning and includes traditional subjects such as maths, English andscience, as well as mud-wrestling, surfing and graffiti. It sounds chaotic, but that’s the point: John Hardy wants the curriculum tobe as fluid as possible.

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He explains that the open design of the classrooms means there are more distractions for students from the outside environment– a tropical downpour or a lizard crawling across the floor, for example – but teachers are encouraged to integrate these intolessons to make learning more exciting and engaging.

“Everywhere in the world kids are learning how to be green but in completely unsustainable environments,” Hardy says. “Greenschool kids are learning about the same things, but they are living it instead.

“The teacher’s job is to create experiences to make the world a better place for the kids. Children with causes are more engagedcitizens of the planet.”

He adds: “They are not in an air-conditioned climate, the school is off the grid [powered by solar energy], there is a vegetable plotnext to the classroom and the animals eat the scraps from lunch. So it’s a learning-by-living concept rather than an intellectualchalk-and-talk.”

Using sustainable design to enhance learning is a concept shared by German architect Anna Heringer, who was asked to designthe METI Handmade school in Bangladesh in 2004.

Working with her colleague Eike Roswag, she eschewed concrete, bricks and steel for traditional techniques using bamboo, mudand straw. Mud walls are perfectly suited to the climate, naturally absorbing humidity, as well as keeping the classroom cool inthe summer and warm in the winter without using electricity.

Importantly, the children also helped to build the school: not just to decorate it, but to undertake the real work of cutting straw,mixing the mud and making ropes to bind the bamboo frames.

Heringer says: “Apart from using tools, water buffalos and cows, all the rest was man-power and that is pretty impressive whenyou start with a pile of dirt and bamboo sticks. In the end you know that you built it with your own hands. It was an incredibleexperience for the children and gave them so much confidence.”

The hands-on role the students played in constructing their own classrooms has deepened their connection with the naturalworld and taught them the importance of building sustainably. She hopes students will take that into adulthood and lead morepeople to choose these traditional, renewable materials in the future.

“When you are in the classroom you feel really embraced by the earth walls. It’s a wonderful environment to learn in,” Heringeradds. “It’s amazing how many people want to touch the building. Humankind grew up using this element, earth, and now wehardly have contact with it. It is something that we have a very old relationship with and something that children also connect

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with. It opens up your senses and that is important for learning.”

Students at a primary school in the Scottish Highlands are also reducing their classroom’s carbon footprint. But rather thangetting their hands dirty in construction, they are using their own body heat.

That’s because Acharacle primary school in Ardnamurchan, Lochaber, is heated by warmth from the children, staff andcomputers. And the school’s green credentials don’t stop there. The building is made from natural materials including timber, thefurniture is specially sourced so it is free from toxic substances such as glue, and the paint is fruit-based. A wind turbine on anearby hill generates electricity to heat water, and rainwater is collected for flushing the toilets.

The message of sustainability is reinforced in the classrooms, where monitors display the temperature and humidity, as well aslevels of daylight and carbon dioxide. The lights switch off if there is enough natural daylight, the windows open automatically ifit is too warm or if there is too much CO in the air, and the blinds come down when it is warm to prevent overheating.

Headteacher Lyndsay Bradley says these features make students very aware of why they are trying to be more green.

She explains: “The classroom’s sustainable design is helping us teach them to be very aware of conserving energy and cuttingpollution – all the things we want them to take on board and carry with them into their adult lives.”

From 3D printing to augmented reality, much is made of how emerging technologies are revolutionising teaching and learning.But as the world finally wakes up to the reality of climate change, more and more schools are using their space to raise awarenessof sustainability and reduce education’s impact on the environment. Through clever design, teachers are not only setting thenext generation on the path to a brighter future, but a greener one as well.

The schools of the future series is funded by Zurich Municipal. All content is editorially independent exceptfor pieces labelled “brought to you by”. Find out more here.

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