Activity 3: Trends influencing education in New Zealand or internationally
Redesigning learning spaces for 21st Century Learning
Five years ago I adopted an ‘innovative’ collaborative approach with my classroom environment which had a big impact on my pedagogy. I replaced all my desks with tables. At the time I was influence by Graham Nuthall’s book, ‘The Hidden Lives of Learners’, which amongst many things claims that children learn more from their peers than from the teacher. After three years of struggling to win my students and colleagues over, I reverted back to having individual desks (in groups) and a couple of tables in the room which the students are welcome to use.
Why did I revert? The students wanted their own individual space, to call their own, to store their possessions. Some specialists teachers resented the students ‘talking’ together which came about when students shared tables.
Today, student-centric pedagogies are being embraced to better prepare learners for the future workforce, and new approaches to classroom design are supporting this shift. Research evidence claims innovative thinking in architecture and space planning is influencing the sustainable design and construction of new school infrastructures, that have the potential to significantly impact classroom practices and student learning.
Redesigning learning spaces for 21st Century Learning, has become a ‘hot’ topic in our school over the past couple of months as members of our Trust Board and senior management, recently returned from a conference keen to explore this trend in education.
Initially I was sceptical, after my brief foray several years earlier, and of another trend that spent time and money on architecture rather than teaching and learning. However, after taking part in discussions with colleagues, hearing reports back from those who attended the conference and been made aware of research, I can understand its plausibility.
What captivates me is …
1.Flexible learning spaces allow for individual and group- based teaching and learning practices.
2. I Modern learning design spaces would help make learning more active and help promote collaborative teaching and learning practices for the 21st Century learner. Our students have one to one devices and have become passive users of apps and software rather than actively collaborating to use their devices in innovative 21st century ways. Statistical data claims modern learning design spaces not only transform the learning but help promote 21st century pedagogy. Modern learning design spaces have been shown to influence engagement in meaningful enquiry-based learning. Instead of stifling students with traditional education models based around four walls and individual desks, these spaces encourage creativity and informal / real world opportunities for learning.
3. As our students are from predominately Pasifika and Maori homes, we have the opportunity to to create a culturally responsive learning environment for these students. There is research clearly showing how physical design can have an impact on Māori and Pasika student outcomes.
Nutshell, G.(2002). The Cultural Myths and Realities of Teaching and Learning. New Zealand Annual Review of Education, 11, 5-30
Interesting to that you converted back to individual desks. I'd be interested to hear how this is going for you now? There has been a major shift to MLEs in recent times, and changes in architecture can not affect the learning outcomes of our students without also changing the teaching pedagogy too!
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