Embedded Files
Here you will find a number of examples of projects, problem-solving, physical spaces in the innovation, lab, student products, teacher, experiments administrators, testing, major ideas, and ideas for both elementary and secondary schools.
Note: Some articles are easy to find, but some need to be accessed through various databases.
Leonardo Notebook
Creating your own notebook can be an invaluable record of what you want to learn, what you're learning, what you are creating or inventing, and what you tried on your journey.
"We must enact new ideas to ensure we serve children in the most creative fashion imaginable." - Dr. Tiffany A. Flowers
In General Across All Schools
The image is from Education Snapshots (also on this webpage).
It is not part of Dr. Parisi's study and is used for illustrative purposes only.
This is a link to the first 24 pages of Dr. Adam P. Parisi's dissertation, including the abstract, on af qualitative study on how the physical layouts in school can be either detrimental or beneficial for students and staff engagement.
This short video displays the myriad ways that schools around the world are reimagining and designing new educational spaces to foster innovative teaching and learning from Kindergarten through College/University.
The "Top 7" schools shown are bulleted below and hyperlinked to additional information about each site:
Ørestad Gymnasium, Copenhagen, Denmark
Agora School, Roermond, The Netherlands
Green School, Bali, Indonesia
Forest Kindergarten, American Forest Kindergarten Association
La Guardia High School, New York City, New York, USA
Minerva University (formerly Minerva Schools at KGI), based out of San Francisco, California, USA there are residential programs in Buenos Aires, Argentina; London, UK; Berlin, Germany; Hyderabad, India; Taipei, Taiwan; and Seoul, South Korea.
AltSchool, San Francisco, California, USA
The screenshot is from the New York Department of Education
This September 2, 2025 Edutopia article by Lauren Kaufman uses New York State's "Portrait of a Graduate" concept to explore how "layering" learning can prepare students for the future. It also delves into how internalizing "the protocol" energizes professional development for teachers, librarians, paraeducators, and administrators.
The screenshot is from the start of the article and is credited as Eamonn Fitzmaurice/The 74, Getty.
Greg Toppo, of The74, analyzes all the reasons students are not just foregoing reading for pleasure but also why many are refusing and/or resisting reading for the learning of school content.
The image at left is a cropped screenshot of the front cover of Madigan's book. There was no citation for the artist shown.
Maura Madigan's 2023 article, in American Libraries Magazine, emphasizes how school libraries are using fun activities via "Lego Story, Simple Machines, Matchbox Cars Engineering, Blackout Poetry, and Endangered Books" to engage students in more than just sitting quietly in a library. They actually get to build, invent, debate, discuss, get frustrated when something doesn't work, reiterate their processes to come to fruitful conclusions, and even film their adventures. These library learning centers give students the option of choice and Madigan argues that that is the most important aspect of all. Through choice, students invest their energy and time willingly, and with the support of the teachers and librarians, become more adept and skilled in their various pursuits. The article is actually an excerpt from Madigan's book, Learning Centers for School Libraries (ALA Edition, 2021).
Image is from the International Literacy Association webpage. There was no citation for the photographer.
Dr. Tiffany A. Flowers shares ten solutions on how to avoid "book deserts" in rural and urban schools in this powerful and insightful October 8, 2025 blog post on Literacy Now, part of the International Literacy Association's website. Dr. Flowers has done extensive research on where "book deserts" are, why that information is important to disseminate, and why more research must be done to analyze this problem. However, she also emphasizes the value in giving constructive advice on how to ameliorate the situation.
"Our inquiry began with student voice." -Kelly Johnson
Elementary Schools
This YouTube video showcases the Learning Commons, Flex Labs, and Learning Studios of Centerview Elementary, a Spring Lake Parks school in Blayne, Minnesota, U.S.A. They focused the architecture of this K-4 school, which opened in 2018, on providing learning spaces where the furniture, the materials, the access to information, and the rooms themselves are flexible and everchanging.
At the left is a picture of an open, two story area that is the library of Ellen Ochoa Elementary School. It is one of twenty-six school library/media spaces that Education Snapshots deems as "inspiring." In the "About Us" section of their website they state, "Education Snapshots is a leading online resource for the global education design community and is a sister website to Office Snapshots and Healthcare Snapshots." They publish a monthly newsletter that demonstrates how school and library design can lead to creative teaching that engages students in wanting to learn.
Teacher Librarian, Kelly Johnson, explains in this Canadian Schools Library Journal article, the gradual process that she and her school community went through to create a new Library Learning Commons which was undertaken after the initial success of making a garden and gathering space that extended off of the orignal Garden City Library. She provides before and after videos, and plenty of pictures to show how the plain rectangular room turned into the welcoming hub of the school. Johnson's school is in the Richmond, British Columbia, Canada school district which provides grants for innovation. Johnson notes that her district and school "lean into cycles of inquiry" that are based on the 2017 Spirals of Inquiry by Judy Halbert and Linda Kaser.
Please note that Halbert and Kaser wrote a new book in 2022 for teams of leaders that want to innovate, entitled, Leading Through Spirals of Inquiry: For Equity and Quality and it is a companion piece to the earlier published book mentioned by Johnson.
"Choice is one of the most important features of learning centers."
- Maura Madigan
Middle Schools
The image is not attributed in the article, however, the entire piece is copyrighted by The American Library Association.
This article contains examples of why libraries, in general, are still relevant in the 21st century. From providing laptops to wedding dresses, crafting learning hubs and makerspaces, or sharing the informational expertise of librarians versed in the intricacies of Artificial Intelligence, to name a few, every example is indicative of the importance of recognizing and assisting in fulfilling library users' needs.
The image was not attributed to any person.
This LinkedIn articles examines many of the educational jobs a Teacher Librarian with an MLIS could attain, as well as a myriad of duties that could be performed, because of their training and certification.
The image at left was attibuted to Ellice Weaver / Ikon Images as the heading image of the article.
Paige Tutt, in this 2023 article from Edutopia, queried librarians and teachers from across the United States, to determine which library changes were the most successful in capturing students' attention, and getting them involved in their learning.
A sample of the areas, and people that shared their insights on innovative learning models were:
Andy Spinks of Campbell High School's Learning Commons in Smyrna, Georgia
Shannon Engelbrecht of A. P. Giannini Middle School in San Francisco, California
Christopher Stewart, unspecified library, Washington, D.C.
Michael Imondi, K-12 Director of ELA, Library, and Media Services, Herricks Union Free School District in Long Island, New York.
Jamie Gregory, unspecified library in a private school, South Carolina
Stacy Nockowitz, unspecified middle school library, Columbus, Ohio
2022 School Library Journal School Librarian of the Year: K. C. Boyd
“It’s a place where students come together, interact, and build community,” Spinks says. “I often hear adults complain about teenagers ‘always looking at their phones’ and not being able to interact with people face-to-face, but that’s not what I see. I see them talking, working on group projects, playing chess and Uno, and exercising their creativity in collaborative ways. Even their screen time—playing video games, making videos, and recording music—is collaborative.”
- Andy Spinks
High Schools
The image above is from the article and is captioned as seen below:
Student with public mural.
Photo courtesy of Dustin Hensley
This article, by Marlaina Cockroft, is from the September 16, 2025 issue of School Library Journal and delves into Dustin Hensley's Community Involvement program that is run through the school library in Elizabethton, Tennessee. When Hensley initiated and received a $200,000 USD grant to improve the school student voice was imperative. Hensley turned to juniors and seniors and had them enroll in a course where they chose areas of the community that they felt needed improvement. The students learn to work with community partners in organizations, business, and government. Various examples of the good that the students have implemented are scattered throughout the article, however, the most inspiring portion is on how these on-the-cusp-of-adulthood students learn to deal with the frustrations of when projects "go wrong." Resiliency and innovation are baked into the course and students learn the importance of failing "in a safe space" so that they can revamp, revise, and begin again.
Image is attibuted to Pixabay.
Donna Spangler expands on five ideas to have quick professional coaching for educators in this September 10, 2025 article from SmartBrief.
The titles of the models are:
Co-Reflection Circles
Strategy Sprints
Coaching Clubs with Choice
Teaching Studio Sessions
Learning Leadership Loops
Each model has a "What it looks like" statement, a brief summary of what it is, and a hyperlinked pdf with deeper step-by-step instructions. Spangler suggests starting "small" and then expand, or "scale wisely," as each Professional Learning Community(PLC) flourishes during their coaching time.
“Start with one idea. Invite a few teachers. Use a simple tool. You don’t need to be everywhere to make a difference. Focus on creating experiences that help teachers grow together." - Donna Spangler
Colleges & universities
An example of Central Washington University's Instagram page that advertises their learning commons.
An example of California State University Stanislaus' Instagram page that shares about their learning commons.
An example of California State University Stanislaus' Instagram page that shares about their learning commons.
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