Sites of Learning in Tukwila -- Children's Views of Tukwila

Children's Views of Tukwila

Two mapping exercises were completed by about 66 children from Tukwila Elementary, 26 children from Thorndyke Elementary, and 13 children from Cascade View Elementary. In the first exercise, the children were asked to draw the areas around their house and school, including the buildings they pass, the places they play, and the places they like or dislike.

The maps indicate nearby homes of friends and relatives as the primary place where they play. This play typically occurs inside, with only a few children indicating the yard or the parking lot of an apartment building as a play place. Parks appear in a number of drawings, but references to landscapes and informal outdoor play are relatively low, perhaps due to parenting practices. On the other hand, a number of institutional spaces are used for structured recreation, including Foster Pool, the basketball grounds, and the Community Center. The maps suggest that children have expert knowledge of bus stops and the routes of both public and school buses. They view their community's landmarks as Showalter Middle School, the fire station, Larry's Market, and South Center, a dense area of shopping malls that appears as a central focus in several drawings.

Elements in Children's Cognitive Maps

Fifth Grader's Map of Tukwila

In the second exercise, the children were asked to draw their ideal learning or play environment. These drawings indicate various types of spaces, natural and built, fantasy and realistic. Many depict multi-use spaces for learning, commerce, and recreation, for instance "playing ball and exercising in nature" or "a reading room between the woods on the grass." Most frequently mentioned play activities are walking, swimming, and observing nature or gardening. Most frequently mentioned learning activities focus on nature and animals. In addition to the usual suns that appear in children's drawings, these had an ample number of mountains, clouds, and airplanes--typical backdrops for Tukwila's everyday activities. About half of the ideal drawings are of outdoor spaces, including natural landscapes, outdoor learning spaces, and playgrounds. The other half are of indoor spaces, including indoor learning spaces, indoor recreation, and malls. Although some designs are of small elements or spaces, many are of entire buildings, enormous parks, or shopping extravaganzas (including an under water shopping mall). One drawing, by a girl who insisted that nothing in Tukwila could qualify as ideal, was of a plane ride to Washington, DC.

In all, the maps of Tukwila suggest that children engage in little unstructured outdoor play, and that their view of the city is primarily from the window of a car or bus. Although freeways and commerce dominate their drawings, the children's imagination also seems captured by the mountains, clouds, and airplanes that can be seen at a distance. The assignment to draw an ideal space more often than not evoked a mega-vision comparable in scale to the South Center shopping complex. These mega-visions made the transition to developing practical design proposals for the school sites difficult, but eventually the children created individual and team drawings that were presented at the charrette. Some of their proposals can be viewed under Design Proposals.

Children's Favorite Play Activities

Children's Favorite Learning Activities

Children's Ideal Learning/Play Spaces

Example of Children's Ideal Spaces Drawing

Fifth Grader's Ideal Outdoor Space