Until recently, built environments have been designed exclusively to meet the needs of neurotypical populations; however, there is increasing recognition of the need to make built environments more accommodating for neurodiverse populations, including autistic individuals. This scoping review aims to comprehensively explore and synthesise this…

Educators have used outdoor space to support learning throughout history. Over the past several years, the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled institutions of higher education to make innovations toward planning and constructing outdoor learning spaces on campus as a necessary measure for promoting student health and safety. This scoping literature…

A student's ability to attend in the classroom is an important factor in determining academic success. This systematic review examined the effects of an alternative seating system on improving attention in students with attention difficulties. Databases searched included CINAHL, Medline, PsycINFO, OTSeeker, Cochrane Library, and Google Scholar.…

The proximity effect--whether distance from an instructor correlates with grades--has been the topic of many articles dating back nearly 100 years. Despite this attention, a cleavage in the literature remains. Some authors argue that increased proximity to the instructor negatively relates with academic performance while others maintain no…

Campus design is discussed as a metaphor for an educational world view. Present spatial organization of the average campus works against the best interests and efforts of the academic community. Implications for spatial reorganization are detailed. (Article originally published in 1971.) (AF)

This review of the literature of the effects of the physical setting on instructional goals posits that the physical setting in which instruction occurs will affect learners' behavior, whether or not it is intended to. These effects occur in two ways--directly, by the behavior the setting allows, and indirectly or symbolically, by the messages the…

Summarizes three studies on the effects of physical environment on preschool children's play and cognitive development, and discusses implications for classroom design. Notes that size of play area, and the extent to which the size of structures in that area was proportional to children's size, affected the rate at which children entered complex…

This report, the fifteenth in a series of twenty completed by the Children's Environments Advisory Service for the International Year of the Child, 1979, presents a guide for planning play spaces on roof decks in high density family housing projects where on-grade land is too scarce or too expensive for development as communal recreation space.…

The 51.7 million students enrolled in public and private schools this year outstrip the 51.3 million mark set in 1971. Today's taxpayers are reluctant to pay for new schools; therefore, school leaders need to be creative in handling the enrollment crunch. Experts in fast-growing districts offer tips. (MLF)

Reviews literature to form a folklore of information workspace and emphasizes the importance of studying folklore of information work environments in the context of the current shift toward removing work from any particular place via information systems, e-mail, and the Web. Discusses trends in workplace design and corporate culture. Contains 84…

Science teachers often have two different curricula--the ideal framework on paper and the real, day-to-day instructional program that occurs in the classroom. A number of factors can affect how much of that ideal framework is accomplished. For example, how a facility is designed and how space is used can affect student achievement, classroom…