Laboratory school
Encyclopedia
A laboratory school or demonstration school is an elementary
Elementary school
An elementary school or primary school is an institution where children receive the first stage of compulsory education known as elementary or primary education. Elementary school is the preferred term in some countries, particularly those in North America, where the terms grade school and grammar...

 or secondary school
Secondary school
Secondary school is a term used to describe an educational institution where the final stage of schooling, known as secondary education and usually compulsory up to a specified age, takes place...

 operated in association with a university, college, or other teacher education
Teacher education
Teacher education refers to the policies and procedures designed to equip prospective teachers with the knowledge, attitudes, behaviors and skills they require to perform their tasks effectively in the classroom, school and wider community....

 institution and used for the training of future teachers, educational experimentation, educational research, and professional development.

Many laboratory schools follow a model of experiential education
Experiential education
Experiential education is a philosophy of education that describes the process that occurs between a teacher and student that infuses direct experience with the learning environment and content. The term is mistakenly used interchangeably with experiential learning...

 based on the original Laboratory School run by John Dewey
John Dewey
John Dewey was an American philosopher, psychologist and educational reformer whose ideas have been influential in education and social reform. Dewey was an important early developer of the philosophy of pragmatism and one of the founders of functional psychology...

 at the University of Chicago
University of Chicago
The University of Chicago is a private research university in Chicago, Illinois, USA. It was founded by the American Baptist Education Society with a donation from oil magnate and philanthropist John D. Rockefeller and incorporated in 1890...

. Many laboratory schools are still in operation in the United States and around the globe. They are known by many names: laboratory schools, demonstration schools, campus schools, model schools, university affiliated schools, child development schools, etc., but all have a connection to a college or university. Each university affiliated school has a unique relationship with a college or university and a different grade configuration. Some lab schools are only for preschool or kindergarten children, some are preschool through fifth or sixth grade, and some continue through high school.

Classroom observation

Laboratory school classrooms may be observed by university professors to assess the student-teacher, but it is desired that the observation be done without the students or student-teachers aware of the observation, thereby avoiding creating a distraction or disruption of classroom activities.

Before the miniaturization and transistorization of electronic camera viewing systems, laboratory schools often included elaborate direct-view observation systems with special observation decks above classrooms or observation rooms alongside the classrooms. One-way mirrors and speaker/intercom systems allowed a professor to silently observe the classroom, but without being seen by the students or the student-teacher.

A modern laboratory school does not need to do anything special with building construction, and is able to use a standard-design school as a laboratory school. The standard rooms are instead outfitted with CCTV cameras hidden inside black plastic domes on the ceiling. Complex lens optics and multiple cameras allow a single stationary dome to view 360 degrees in all directions with no mechanical noises or moving parts, and high-speed Internet connections allow for a professor at a college to remotely view and interact with student-teachers in a distant laboratory school.

In either case there is no hiding from students or student-teachers that observation may occur, as it is plainly obvious there are special mirrors or cameras in the room. But they do not know when observation may or may not be occurring.

See also

  • Progressive education
  • Model Laboratory School
    Model Laboratory School
    Model Laboratory School is a semi-private laboratory school located on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, in Richmond, Kentucky, United States....

     -- a semi-private laboratory school located on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University, in Richmond, Kentucky,
  • Education Laboratory School
    Education Laboratory School
    Education Laboratory School is a charter school in Honolulu, Hawai‘i serving grades K-12. Prior to 2002, the school was known as the University Laboratory School or University High School when it was a part of the College of Education at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa...

     -- a charter school in Honolulu, Hawai‘i serving grades K-12
  • Lab School of Washington
    Lab School of Washington
    The Lab School of Washington is a school for students with learning difficulties, founded by Sally Lieberman Smith, an American educator who taught at American University, where she directed the since 1976 to 2007 after her death. Katherine Schantz, then directed the school from 2007–present...

     -- a school for students with learning difficulties
  • University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
    University of Chicago Laboratory Schools
    The University of Chicago Laboratory Schools is a private, co-educational day school in Chicago, Illinois. It is affiliated with the University of Chicago...

     - a private, co-educational day school in Chicago, Illinois
  • Northern University High School
    Northern University High School
    Northern University High School, or Price Lab, is a small public high school in Cedar Falls, Iowa, United States, that is run by the University of Northern Iowa.-Athletics:...

     - a small public high school in Cedar Falls, Iowa that is run by the University of Northern Iowa
  • Greenwood Laboratory School
    Greenwood Laboratory School
    Greenwood Laboratory School is a comprehensive K-12 laboratory school affiliated with, and located on the campus of, Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri. Greenwood is often mistakenly called a private school since it does have tuition...

     - a comprehensive K-12 laboratory school affiliated with, and located on the campus of, Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri
  • Laborschule Bielefeld
    Laborschule Bielefeld
    The Laborschule Bielefeld is an alternative school located in the city of Bielefeld, Germany. It has received significant media coverage in Germany because it is one of Germany's few "democratic" schools. The Laborschule has been called one of Germany's best schools by the media...

     - a laboratory school located in the city of Bielefeld, Germany
  • Jordanhill School
    Jordanhill School
    Jordanhill School educates children from age 5-18. It is located on Chamberlain Road in Glasgow, Scotland.Uniquely among mainstream Scottish schools, it is funded directly by the Scottish Executive, rather than through the local authority, in this case Glasgow City Council...

     - an independent state co-educational day school in Glasgow
    Glasgow
    Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

    , Scotland
    Scotland
    Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...


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