Cappuccino culture for teenagers

In some schools, classrooms are being redesigned to resemble cyber cafés. Virginia Matthews of the Independent [London] reports

"At Colne Community School in Brightlingsea, Essex, the ICT Learning Centre – despite its 60 or so matt black, flat-screen computers – is designed to look more like a coffee bar than a secondary school, according to Mark Thomson, assistant principal.

"Yet despite the significant increases in GCSE grades, the better coursework presentation and what he calls "rising engagement levels among less motivated pupils" that have followed a £3m investment in technology, Colne's cyber café is just the start of things. ..."

Article continues at Virginia Matthews, Secondary teaching: Cappuccino culture for teenagers, The Independent [London], 01 November 2007, http://news.independent.co.uk/education/schools/article3113582.ece

Image credit: University of Pennsylvania, Accenture Cyber Cafe, http://www.seas.upenn.edu/cybercafe/