Introduction
This report will cover the needs of the new Child Development Center (CDC). This facility has offered great resources to the community but has outgrown its current space. Therefore, a new facility is being planned: The New CDC and Student Development Center. While the entire facility will not be torn down and reconstructed, specific areas in need of improvement will be addressed. The areas that need improvements will be researched through a study that is outlined below.
Part of the recommendations listed below will be based on a research study.
Methods
The methods used to determine the needed infrastructure changes for the CDC will be determined via e-mail link to online survey. The participants will be staff members currently employed at the center who spend their time every week at the center and know it intimately; the best possible people to ask their opinion of potential improvements. We will send each of these staff members an email link to the survey that will instruct them to fill out each question on the website, which will require about ten minutes of their time. The survey clearly indicates that their responses will not be anonymous, and the results will be tied to their name. If any staff member is not comfortable with the process, they are welcome to opt out of the survey at any time, as well as skip any questions they do not feel comfortable answering. They will be asked to do their very best in helping to design the new facility, as architects and engineers can create great plans, it is the people who use and will use the facility into the foreseeable future who know the best possible layout. The staff members are asked their opinion about what features they like with the current CDC facility and which features they would like to see recreated in the new facility. They are also asked to share their opinion about new features that should be implemented into the new facility.
The second group to be surveyed will be present and former students of the PSY 328 DEV course held in the Development Psych with laboratory. Utilizing the same methodology, the students will receive an email link to the online survey tool. The participants must be at least 18 years of age or older and be a current or past student in PSY 328 DEV: Developmental Psych w/Lab. The instructions state that the survey will take approximately ten minutes to complete. The survey for the students is completely confidential, and the information from the survey will not be tied to the results from the questionnaire. The students are free to participate in the study at their own discretion, and they are free to skip any questions that they do not feel comfortable answering. The first question in the survey verifies that the student taking the survey is doing so on a voluntary basis. The students are asked about which features they like about the current CDC that they would like recreated at the new facility. They are also asked to give their ideas about any new designs that the CDC should have incorporated into their facility. The last section of the survey is demographic information.
The students provided excellent feedback for the construction of the new facility. It was apparent that they took this task very seriously, and their work is certainly appreciated by everyone.
Results
The results of the surveys have been counted and qualitated in order to tie each opinion with a specific data point, if the opinion can be differentiated into keep an area/room the same in the new facility or upgrade the area/room. The information was quantified to give us the following tables; the first tables to be examined are the results of the respondents who were in favor of keeping certain areas the same in the new CDC:
The vote tallies indicate that the majority of respondents favored the recreation in the new CDC the Art Room, the Specialized/Differentiated Space, the Front Office, the Play Area, and Easy Observation area, as well as outside, the Playground & Equipment, the Circle - Bike Track, and the Garden.
The following areas have been recommended by the respondents to improve in the new CDC facility:
The results show impressive numbers for the respondents, clearly indicating that certain areas within the CDC need improvement. 80.77% of the respondents indicated that the CDC needs more indoor space, which was then broken down to specific areas that need more space, including the Learning Lab/Undergrad Areas, Children's Areas, Office Areas, Support Areas, Storage Areas, and Equipment Space. Similar results were found when discussing outdoor areas, revealing numbers of 50.00% of respondents believing that the outdoor Equipment/Toys area and Swings need improvement, as well as more space being needed, more shade provided, more water, safer ground, and accommodations for older and younger children.
The results for the surveys were extremely valuable for the decisions regarding design and construction of the new facility. With the major issues associated with the current facility now known to the design team, the new CDC facility can be constructed with these needs in mind, assuring that the new facility will be adequate for its current uses and have room for growth in the future.
Recommendations
The results of the surveys has led to specific recommendations for the design of the new facility. The first issue to address is the need for a greater amount of space both indoors and outdoors. The following areas are of particular concern when it comes to the amount of space currently available compared to the needs of the staff and students:
Learning Lab/Undergrad Area
Children's areas
Office areas
Support areas
Outdoor areas
Additionally, the outdoor areas need to have special attention paid to the request of safer grounds more accommodating to younger and older children. The swings must be updated, water must be available, more shade must be added, and the equipment/toys must be updated.
Popular areas that must be kept at the new facility are the Art Room, Specialized/Differentiated Space, Front Office, Play Area, and Early Observation. Regarding the outdoor areas, the Playground, Bike Track, and Garden must be kept for the new facility.
These recommendations are made based upon the results of the surveys completed by the staff and students from the CDC, the people who have the best idea and have spent the most time with the facility. If these recommendations are used in the design and construction of the new CDC facility, the best areas will continue to offer utility to the staff and students, and the areas that need improvement will become more useful and offer greater utilization, therefore creating more potential for growth and usefulness to the community.
Informal Observations
The observations made here will be based upon a research study in which staff members and students were asked to rate the usefulness of different areas of the current CDC and decide which areas should be kept as they are and which areas need to be improved. The survey results will be used to make recommendations to the design and construction teams who will have the ultimate decision over how the new facility should be constructed.
Indoor Preschool Environment
The indoor preschool environment must be tailored specifically for the benefit of the age-range of children who will be utilizing the facility. Respondents to the surveys have told us that there is not enough space in the indoor learning areas to meet the needs of the students. A number of studies converge on elevated levels of social withdrawal among preschool children when interacting under more crowded conditions (Evans 429). Furthermore, Elevated aggression and conflict as well as diminished cooperation occurs among more crowded preschoolers (Bates 1970, Rohe & Nuffer 1977, Rohe & Patterson 1974, Ruopp et al. 1979). In order to maximize the benefit of the CDC to the children, this particular area is of special importance to enlarge.
Outdoor Preschool Environment
The playground area is noted to be of particular importance to maintain in its current condition, although the toys and swings must be improved. Children and adults also find natural settings more restorative, reducing cognitive fatigue, and enhancing positive affect (Kaplan & Kaplan 1989, Kaplan & Talbot 1983). Keeping this finding in mind, the outdoor preschool environment should have natural settings as much as possible. The specific recommendations here are again made with the best interest of the children's development in mind.
Undergrad Learning Area
The Undergrad Learning Area has been noted to need improvement. In order to offer the greatest learning environment for young people who are choosing careers working with children, this area needs to offer the best possible amenities; this recommendation is again made with not only the best interests of the young adults in mind, but those of the children as well. Offering the greatest possible resources to the development of young minds is the best investment we can make in our community.
The faculty environment is of particular importance to the recommendations as well. Facilities can help promote a positive workplace in an industry challenged to retain experienced teachers (Sussman and Gillman, 2007). The recommendations from respondents showed us that while the Front Office space was adequate, the Office Space required improvement. In order to offer the best amenities to the excellent staff members of CDC, it is hereby recommended that the Staff Offices receive full improvement.
Conclusions
The conclusions of this report are that, based upon the recommendations from the staff and students who know the CDC facility better than anyone else, a number of areas within the facility must be improved. The areas to be improved include: General Space, Learning Lab, Children's Areas, Office Areas, Support Areas, Storage Areas, Outdoor Equipment/Toys, Swings, General Outdoor Space, More Shade, Water, and Safer Grounds. The areas that will be kept the same for the new CDC include: Art Room, Specialized/Differentiated Space, Front Office, Play Area, early Observation, Playground and Equipment, Bike Track, and Garden. These improvements will aide in the development of the children who come to CDC every day, the happiness and productivity of the staff, and the learning and education of the college students. With the approach taken here, the most necessary improvements can be undertaken while the areas that are working well now can be maintained, thereby keeping the design and construction costs to a minimum and offering the greatest resources to the community.
References
Bates B.(1970). Effects of social density on the behavior of nursery school children. Annu. Rev. Psychol. 2006. 57:423-451.
Evans, Gary W. 'Child Development And The Physical Environment'. (2006). Annu. Rev. Psychol. 57(1): 423-451. Web. 27 Apr. 2015.
Kaplan R, Kaplan S.(1989). The Experience of Nature. New York: Cambridge Univ. Press
Kaplan S, Talbot JF. (1983). Psychological benefits of wilderness experience. In Behavior and the Natural Environment, ed. JF Wohlwill, I Altman, pp. 163–203. New York: Plenum
Rohe WM, Nuffer E. (1977). The effects of density and partitioning on children’s behavior. Presented at Meet. Am. Psychol. Assoc., Washington, DC
Rohe WM, Patterson AH. (1974). The effects of varied levels of resources and density on behavior in a day care center. Presented at Annu. Conf. Environ. Design Res. Assoc., Milwaukee, Wisc.
Ruopp R, Travers J, Glantz F, Coelen C. (1979). Children at the Center. Cambridge, MA: ABT
Sussman, Carl, and Amy Gillman. (2007). "Building early childhood facilities" N.p., Web. 29 Apr. 2015.
