Keep discussions at these early stages open and free; they should be wide-ranging, involving many different members of the community. Explore many different ideas about the future of both curriculum and space for your undergraduate programs in science and mathematics, ideas that have been stimulated by thoughtful consideration of your mission as a campus community, by your benchmarking visits to other institutions, and by personal reflections on what it will take to improve the environment for the natural science community on your campus.

This is the time to be both visionary and realistic in your dreaming; the new spaces and structures being considered will serve the institution for many years. Remembering that the goal is to improve learning for students, think about questions such as the following:

• What works in the science and mathematics programs on our campus?
• What kind of spaces are needed for faculty to remain vital as scholars?
• Are there ways, intellectually and physically, that new connections can be made between the sciences, and among the sciences, the humanities, and the arts?
• How will the increasing national attention on developing a science-literate citizenry, transforming the K-12 community, bringing groups currently underrepresented in science, mathematics, and engineering affect our planning, our program, our space?

Such questions will be addressed in more depth during the process of defining the facilities program, after the decision has been made to move ahead with your project.

Answers to these questions will differ campus to campus, as individual institutions explore them in the context of their distinctive identity and mission. However, even if a major facilities project is not anticipated, these are the kinds of questions that must be asked as each academic community prepares to build and sustain strong undergraduate programs in science and mathematics in a changing, challenging world.

—PKAL Volume III: Structures for Science, 1995.

Embracing the Right Questions: Planning Spaces for Science

May 13 Webinar: Planning for Renovating: Understanding the Process