For a number of years, higher education has moved away from didactic teaching toward collaborative and self-directed learning. This paper discusses how the configuration and spatial geometry of learning spaces influences engagement and interaction, with a particular focus on hierarchies between people within the space. Layouts, presented as…

In a three-year cumulative study, more than 1,000 children were observed either in randomly arranged preschool classrooms or in classrooms deliberately arranged to promote learning. Creativity, oral language use, and development of science and number concepts were significantly higher for children in the specially planned classrooms. (Author/SJL)