Can environment can completely change a child’s relationship with reading? Yes!
Contemporary libraries for children are proving this by replacing the traditional model with dynamic, flexible, and sensorially rich spaces. The result? Children who previously resisted reading start asking to stay longer.
Neuroarchitecture explains why. The child’s brain responds intensely to environments that offer choice, autonomy, and perceptual novelty. When a child can choose where and how to read, they activate brain reward systems. The space stops being passive and becomes an active part of the learning process.
Winthrop Library (United States) incorporated a sculptural “learning tree.” Hebi Library (Shanghai) created shelves with inhabitable “caves.” Pingtan Book House (China) combined reading and play. Each project shows how design can transform behaviors and spark curiosity.
The design of a children’s space is not a detail. It’s cognitive stimulus, sensory invitation, and learning experience in formation.
Reference:
Iñiguez, A. (2024, August 22). Bibliotecas para crianças: dinamismo, flexibilidade e adaptabilidade nos interiores [Libraries for children: dynamism, flexibility and adaptability in interiors]. ArchDaily Brasil.
Asset-Based Community Development: Championing the Power of Community
The power of Asset-Based Community Development (ABCD) is its focus on uplifting and combining the strengths of individuals and the community to create broader changes for the common good. In 2016, Tamarack was chosen by the late community-builder and ABCD founder John McKnight to serve as the hub for ABCD in Canada. Since then, we have continued to support the advancement of ABCD in communities across the country.
Read on for tools, resources, and a workshop to help you champion the power of ABCD in your own community.
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Building Community Connectors from the Ground Up
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Community connectors are vital to ABCD: they find individuals with unique skills and support them to collaborate on positive change efforts in their neighbourhoods.
This tool helps members of community organizations and local government build community connectors without creating specific programs.
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The Collaboration Imperative: How Boards and Leaders Drive Impact
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Nonprofits today are struggling with fewer resources and increased demand. This article from the Collaborative Organization makes the case for why nonprofit boards and leaders need to consider collaboration as the answer. Read the article and sign up for a free webinar on the Collaborative Organization led by Maytree.
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A Guide for Deepening Community with ABCD
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Communities across Canada are experiencing increasing levels of social isolation, resulting in poorer outcomes across the board. This guide has been developed to support community champions, concerned citizens, and municipal decision-makers to build belonging and harness the power of community for social change.
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Tamarack Workshop: Fundamentals of ABCD
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This workshop provides an introduction to ABCD as a people-centred approach to community development.
Join Heather Keam as we work through the foundations and principles of ABCD, including new and improved processes for centring community in your programs and activities.
May 28 | 1:00–4:30pm ET
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AI’s Growing Role as Scientific Peer Reviewer
Stanford computer scientist James Zou is exploring how AI can accelerate scientific research and peer review. His finding: AI excels at spotting gaps, but judgment calls still need humans.
AI Is Routine for College Students, Despite Campus Limits
AI use higher among men, and students in business, tech and engineering
https://news.gallup.com/poll/704090/routine-college-students-despite-campus-limits.aspx
Inside Switzerland’s extraordinary medieval library
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