Room: E143-144

Audience: Architects

Call to Action: Take a Stand! Advocate for TID in All Projects. Be a proactive voice to ensure that TID principles guide the creation and design of learning environments, thereby promoting healing and support for those impacted by trauma. Incorporate mindfulness and empathy into your daily activities. Practice and encourage mindfulness and empathy in the classroom or workplace, emphasizing their value in fostering a supportive, trauma-informed environment. Develop opportunities for 4IR – ready learning that is trauma-informed in your school or workplace. Incorporate activities that build emotional intelligence, teamwork, and leadership into technology-focused projects, recognizing that soft skills are equally important in the 4IR workforce.

Abstract: We find ourselves in the thick of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR), a transformative era marked by the confluence of technologies that blur the lines between the physical, digital, and biological realms. In its 2023 Future of Jobs Report, the World Economic Forum noted that the greatest efforts to re-skilling workers are in analytical thinking, resilience, curiosity, self-awareness, and empathy – social-emotional/social brain competencies. Educational systems are called upon to adapt, preparing students for the intricacies of this new age. By utilizing Trauma-Informed Design, schools can equip students with the technical know-how and empower them with the emotional resilience and empathy necessary, to thrive in the complexities of the 4IR. Trauma-Informed Design creates healing-centered learning spaces that support the over 57% of our children who have experienced trauma. The effects of trauma on the brain – especially a hyperactive fight or flight response can inhibit children from learning, thinking critically, collaborating, or being resilient in the face of change. In a revolution that is characterized by leaps in artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things (IoT), genetic engineering, and quantum computing, it is imperative that our children are resilient, self-aware, and prepared to face a world where the only constant is change. This presentation will examine the intersection of Trauma-Informed Design, Social-Emotional Learning, and the future of learning through the eyes of an educational futurist, a SEL-focused educator, and learning environment designers. We will engage our audience in a hands-on exploration of how TID can create personalized, safe environments for students as they engage in new pedagogies and learning for the 4IR. Support for students who have experienced trauma transcends what is optional or desirable; it has become a categorical imperative.

Learning Objectives:

1. Understand what future-ready learning looks like.
2. Analyze the Intersection of TID and future-ready learning. Learners will comprehend the relationship between the future ready learning for the 4IR and the imperative of Trauma-Informed Design.
3. Learn to design a personalized learning environment. Learners will engage in a hands-on application of TID principles that support future-ready technical and social brain skills for a group of students.
4. Equip Students for Future Challenges: Empower educators and designers to rethink a traditional learning environment and create spaces that place Social-Emotional well-being on par with knowledge.