The present educational paradigm, fundamentally unchanged since the 19th century, does not meet 21st-century educational needs. This paradigm shift must be accompanied by a strong educational architecture that fosters the skills needed for 21st-century success including creativity and cultural awareness. The present study investigates the primary…

COVID-19 forced universities to engage in rapid improvisation and adoption of online learning and teaching. This paper explores "real-time blended" learning in which online students are taught simultaneously with students who are experiencing proximate learning. Two cliques could develop with those learning online becoming observers…

While the architecture, educational ideas and material culture of nineteenth century school buildings have been properly investigated, we know less about the actual processes involved in designing and building schools. These processes are explored in this chapter, allowing the influence of local decision-makers, school designers, builders and…

A variety of research studies reveal the advantages of actively engaging students in the learning process through collaborative work in the classroom. However, the complex nature of the learning environment in large college general chemistry courses makes it challenging to identify the different factors that affect students' cognitive and social…

This paper focuses on the methodology adopted for Malta+5, which builds on Robin Alexander's work by comparing the five pedagogical cultures he studied to the one in Malta. It reflects critically on the research process adopted in this study, and shows how, despite the very limited experience and resources, applying the methodology, frameworks and…

Contribution: This paper presents evidence demonstrating ways in which flexible classrooms (which have movable tables and chairs that can be rearranged into different layouts) afford active learning. It highlights the quantitative increase in active learning that occurs for one instructor and discusses how the affordances of the flexible classroom…

The changing nature of education has forced educators to rethink the role of classrooms in student learning. Prior research has shown that the environmental and structural design of education centers impact student learning. With a dozen variables to deal with, classroom designers are faced with the daunting task of selecting one plan from the…

Facility managers have the challenge of adhering to community college policies and procedures while fulfilling requirements of administration, students, and teachers concerning specific needs of classroom aesthetics. The role of facility manager and how specific entities affect perceptions of the design and implementation of classroom aesthetics…

The use of alternative classroom seating has recently become a topic of interest in education. Many teachers have redesigned their classrooms to include many forms of classroom seating aside from traditional student desks. These forms of seating include but are not limited to: therapy balls, therapy cushions, and beanbag chairs. While this…

Several institutions have redesigned traditional learning spaces to better realize the potential of active, experiential learning. We compare student performance in traditional and active learning classrooms in a large, introductory biology course using the same syllabus, course goals, exams, and instructor. Using ACT scores as predictive, we…

Educational environment influences students' learning attitudes, and the classroom conveys the educational philosophy. The traditional college classroom design is based on the educational space that first appeared in medieval universities. Since then classrooms have not changed except in their size. In an attempt to develop a different perspective…

The purpose of the study was to determine the influence of learning environment on students' academic achievement in mathematics at senior secondary school level. Thus the study investigated some components of learning environment and their possible influence on students' academic achievement in mathematics. A sample of 337 randomly selected SS II…

While research indicates that technology can be useful for supporting learning and collaboration, there is still relatively little uptake or widespread implementation of these technologies in classrooms. In this paper, we explore one aspect of the development of a multi-touch classroom, looking at two different designs of the classroom environment…

In designing St. Olaf College's Regents Hall of Natural and Mathematical Sciences, we attempted to create learning spaces to accommodate classes of 50-100 students and a variety of teaching pedagogies. In this study, we compared three different 72-seat classrooms furnished with half-round tables for four, straight tables, or a serpentine shaped…

We studied student seating habits in both a traditional lecture hall with the instructor in the front and in a SCALE-UP (Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs) studio-style classroom with the instructor in the middle. Like several previous authors, we find that students with higher course grades tend to sit in the…