Specialist in Nursery-Kindergarten-Primary Education, Office of Education

and

CHRISTINE HEINIG

Director of Nursery School, Washington Child Research Center

A unique coordination of interests in child study and parent education was effected with the organization of the Washington Child Research Center. Representatives of eight organizations which have been working independently in the field of child development and parent education decided to pool their interests and efforts and create a laboratory for child study. These organizations include the Federal Office of Education, the Bureau of Home Economics, the United States Public Health Service, George Washington University, the University of Maryland, and three organizations-the American Association of University Women, American Home Economics Association, and the Committee on Child Development of the National Research Council. Representatives from each of these organizations form the present executive board of the Washington Child Research Center. The program determined for the center required a nursery school of normally developed 3-year-old children as a laboratory for research, and facilities for conducting a behavior clinic.

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One of the first problems faced by the executive board was to find a suitable building for the center and to equip it. This responsibility was given to a housing committee. The adventure involved in securing and equipping the house was so illuminating that the committee was asked to prepare a report of its work.

As a result, the several tasks involved in the selection and reconstruction of a building, and the purchasing and construction of equipment necessary to meet the needs of a research center and its laboratory are described in this report. An attempt has also been made to indicate the educational principles which guided the work. Selecting the House

Many plans for housing the center were considered-to lease land and build a 1-story house on the plan of a Chinese compound, to

Large playroom made possible by opening sliding doors. Note the carpenter-built doll's bed, hollowbox building blocks, section of fencing with balance board and wooden supply boxes, some of which are partitioned. Also note window seat over the radiator, celotex display space on the wall, linoleum floor covering, nontipping stool, and the open supply shelving

secure rooms in a public-school building, and to adapt garages or a residence to meet the center's needs. During the search for available property many questions arose which developed the following criteria:

The Site

Location of property.-(1) In or near a residential district in which there are young children; (2) situated as centrally as possible for all the coordinating organizations, and fairly near the center of the city; (3) easily accessible by street car or bus; (4) if possible, near an orphan asylum, children's hospital, or other child-caring organization through which control groups of chilren might be obtained.

1 Housing committee: Anna E. Richardson, field worker in child development and parent education, American Home Economics Association; Grover E. Kempf, surgeon, U. S. Public Health Service; Mary Dabney Davis, specialist in nursery-kindergarten-primary education, U. S. Office of Education.

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

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Size and situation of grounds.-(1) Adequate play-yard space; (2) grounds well drained, exposed to morning sunlight, and free from encroaching buildings that would interfere with free circulation of

This diagram shows location of the house on the plot, zoning of play apparatus in yard, and arrangement of first-floor rooms. Housekeeper's quarters and children's coat rooms are in basement. Offices, library, and children's sleeping rooms are on the second and third floors.

air; (3) yard, regular in shape and securely fenced; (4) removed from excessive noise, dirt, and confusion of traffic.

City regulations.-(1) Proper consideration of zoning laws for establishing schools in residential districts.

Exposure. (1) Southern and eastern exposures to assure adequate sunshine; (2) play-room exposure protected from adjacent buildings by play yard.

Structure. (1) Strong and well built; (2) tight floors, windows, and door frames; (3) outside play-room doors protected with vestibules; (4) low window sills to admit a maximum amount of direct sunshine and to allow children to see out easily; (5) stairs broken by landings; (6) simple architecture.

Number and arrangement of rooms.-(1) For the nursery schoolplayrooms, toilet, sleeping, and examination rooms, kitchen, and adequate closets or spaces for constructing them, all located on first two floors of the building; (2) offices-for the director, for clerical, research, and teaching staffs; (3) living quarters for a resident housekeeper; (4) halls and rooms adapted to route children on arrival for physical examination, necessary changes of clothing, toilet needs, and entrance to playrooms and playyard; (5) rooms arranged compactly to insure economy of effort for supervision of children's activities, and to make adjustments for group meetings; (6) toilet facilities easily accessible from play and sleeping rooms and playyard; (7) director's office and waiting room easily accessible to main entrance.

Service systems.-(1) Heating plant-test adequacy of heating plant and if necessary determine the amount of additional radiation the furnace might carry (also consider respective merits of hot water, hot air, or steam heat); (2) gas service discover regulations governing size of meter required for service rendered, and for type of institution registering for the service; (3) electric service-insure adequate lighting for halls, rooms, stairways, porches, and closets (overhead lighting systems throw fewer shadows and give better general illumination than side lights); outlets are needed for service in the kitchen, laundry, and rooms requiring supplementary heat; (4) plumbing-examine sewerage outlets to determine their capacity for carrying additional toilets; consider adaptability of house construction to installation of new plumbing connections; determine adequacy of present water supply.

Business arrangements.-(1) Assure adequate lease with option of renewal; (2) secure permission for reconstruction of building, and determine responsibility for returning it to original condition at termination of lease; (3) hold owner responsible for dry cellar, tight roof, weatherproof outside construction of the house, and adequate water, heating, and lighting systems.

The greatest difficulties encountered in finding a house for the Washington center were adequate yard space, southern and eastern exposure, and satisfactory lease for the property. Finally, a detached

12-room brick house was found which met the major requirements. The distribution of rooms adapted for the center's programs can be seen in the diagram.

Reconstructing the House

Major items of reconstruction in the house selected included converting the butler's pantry into a toilet room, inserting two windows in the south wall of the front playroom, cutting a door from the hall directly to the basement stairway, adding a sun porch. with a deck roof at the back of the house, and rearranging the basement to provide a suite of rooms for the housekeeper, in order to isolate the furnace room in which an oil burner was installed, and to provide ample space for the children's coats and hats and a toilet room for them near the basement entrance.

Plans for these adjustments and for the interior decorating were based on certain definite ideas of the kind of surroundings which should be prepared for children, parents, and staff using the research center. These ideas and illustrations of the way in which they were demonstrated are summarized in the following statements:

Space, actual and effected.-A house in which 25 three-year-old children, a teaching staff, as well as students and visitors are moving about, must have space enough and proper adjustment of equipment to avoid congestion and confusion. Rooms in the house selected for the research center are not large, about 14 by 15 feet on the average. Every effort was made to conserve all available space and to effect space by the manner in which changes in structure were made and in which equipment was installed and by the scheme for decoration. For example: (1) All unnecessary decorative features which either actually occupied space or seemed to do so were removed. These included paneling on the walls, ornamentation on woodwork, overhanging cupboards, and a superfluous fireplace. (2) French doors were installed where doors were needed. (3) New windows were made as wide as possible, though the height corresponds with others. (4) Cupboards, simple in design, were installed close to the walls. (5) A uniform color for walls was used throughout the house, and in each room the walls and equipment, or the woodwork and equipment, were kept the same color.

Light, actual and simulated.-Light, adequately capitalized, creates a desirable atmosphere of life and vitality. This requires adding, reflecting, simulating, and softening sunshine. More direct light was provided by adding the sun porch, by replacing stained-glass window panels with clear glass, and by cutting two windows in the south wall of the playroom. Sunlight was reflected or simulated (1) by using a cream-colored wall paper or wall paint in all rooms; (2) by painting the trim in the basement coat room a Chinese red; (3) by painting interiors