Arquitetura escolar, inovação e a era digital

Abstract

Present in society and in the history of a significant portion of the population, the school environment is where we spend many years of our lives. Despite this, there are few studies on the experiences of users in school spaces, especially in public education in Cuiabá, capital of the state of Mato Grosso. This qualitative, exploratory work aims to study and analyze traditional public school architecture and its spaces in the digital age. The purpose is to describe, from the perspective of students, educators, managers and architects involved in the design of buildings, what they think about school spaces. Initially, 219 students from three public schools in Cuiabá answered a semi-structured questionnaire. Once the themes and experiences were identified, three focus groups were created, one in each school, to deepen the results obtained in the questionnaire. As architecture is used for numerous purposes and has different types, innovative school spaces in Brazil and in other countries were also presented to the discussion groups, with different possibilities, functions and forms of setting, use and coexistence. The students' perception in relation to the spaces of the three schools did not present significant differences, but when the students got to know the innovative spaces, the problems of each school gained another dimension. Teachers, managers and architects make it clear that they are resigned to the immobility and conditions of current educational spaces, given the lack of resources for education as a whole. The study also highlights the benefits of an innovative educational space as a mediator in the path of knowledge construction, sharing, communication and socialization.