Developing and Piloting a Design Guide for Outdoor Classrooms in Utah

Studies nationwide suggest that the use of outdoor classrooms in education benefits both students and teachers. In response, the Utah Office of Outdoor Recreation (OOR) established a grant to help fund the implementation of outdoor classrooms across the state of Utah. Interested schools and non-profit organizations may apply for this grant to fund outdoor classroom projects that will help transform their properties into outdoor learning environments. One requirement for the application is to submit a site plan for the proposed outdoor classroom space. However, many interested applicants have little to no experience with landscape design and may struggle knowing how to create a successful outdoor classroom site plan for their grant application. Additionally, other design guides for outdoor classrooms are not specific to Utah and may contain irrelevant information that is burdensome or confusing to applicants. The aim of this project was to create a Utah-specific outdoor classroom design guide that was simple enough for beginner-level designers to follow and thorough enough to help produce a quality design. The design guide is targeted towards grant applicants applying for the Utah Outdoor Classroom Grant but can be used by anyone interested in designing an outdoor classroom. The guide contains a step-by-step design process focused on public participation. It also features a variety of tools to help streamline the design process, including a sample survey, worksheets, case studies, and an additional resources section. Grant applicants will be able to use the design guide for their grant applications for years to come

Modeling for Spatial Memory

The purpose of this research is to help establish a framework of knowledge around people\u27s spatial gist capacities that can inform the creation and implementation of spatial memory aptitude tests. This research overlaps the fields of psychology, computer science, and urban design. The aim of this project is to create a versatile, 9-block, 3D-modeled cityscape that can be used as a tool in future research projects. The virtual cityscape will be designed by adhering to psychological principles of wayfinding which include five principles of urban design: districts, edges, paths, nodes, and landmarks (as prescribed by Kevin Lynch in the book Image of the City). This project will entail strategically embedding the five principles in the design of the model. In addition, principles from Design of Cities, by Ed Bacon, will be integrated to help establish an underlying organizational structure to the virtual cityscape. The software applications City Engine (ESRI), Rhinoceros 3D, and Unreal Engine will be used to create the model. First, the city structure and parameters will be created using City Engine. Next, detailed modeling elements will be created in Rhinoceros 3D. Finally, Unreal Engine will be used to establish the user interface. As a final deliverable, the cityscape model will be imported into a virtual reality platform where people can wear VR headsets and interact with the environment at a human scale. This model will be offered as a product that can be used by future researchers for human subject testing of wayfinding capabilities. As an accompaniment to the model, a written document will be provided describing the design principles by which the model was created and where they can be seen

Developing and Piloting a Design Guide for Outdoor Classrooms in Utah

The outdoor classroom design guide can help applicants successfully apply for the Utah Outdoor Classroom Grant introduced by the Office of Outdoor Recreation (OOR) in 2021. The design guide includes case studies, design resources, and critical information for community involvement from statewide locations and will serve as a free public resource

Risk of COVID-19 after natural infection or vaccinationResearch in context

Summary: Background: While vaccines have established utility against COVID-19, phase 3 efficacy studies have generally not comprehensively evaluated protection provided by previous infection or hybrid immunity (previous infection plus vaccination). Individual patient data from US government-supported harmonized vaccine trials provide an unprecedented sample population to address this issue. We characterized the protective efficacy of previous SARS-CoV-2 infection and hybrid immunity against COVID-19 early in the pandemic over three-to six-month follow-up and compared with vaccine-associated protection. Methods: In this post-hoc cross-protocol analysis of the Moderna, AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Novavax COVID-19 vaccine clinical trials, we allocated participants into four groups based on previous-infection status at enrolment and treatment: no previous infection/placebo; previous infection/placebo; no previous infection/vaccine; and previous infection/vaccine. The main outcome was RT-PCR-confirmed COVID-19 >7–15 days (per original protocols) after final study injection. We calculated crude and adjusted efficacy measures. Findings: Previous infection/placebo participants had a 92% decreased risk of future COVID-19 compared to no previous infection/placebo participants (overall hazard ratio [HR] ratio: 0.08; 95% CI: 0.05–0.13). Among single-dose Janssen participants, hybrid immunity conferred greater protection than vaccine alone (HR: 0.03; 95% CI: 0.01–0.10). Too few infections were observed to draw statistical inferences comparing hybrid immunity to vaccine alone for other trials. Vaccination, previous infection, and hybrid immunity all provided near-complete protection against severe disease. Interpretation: Previous infection, any hybrid immunity, and two-dose vaccination all provided substantial protection against symptomatic and severe COVID-19 through the early Delta period. Thus, as a surrogate for natural infection, vaccination remains the safest approach to protection. Funding: National Institutes of Health