Historically, classrooms have utilized stationary furniture, facing front toward a centralized instructor position, and limiting student-to-student interactions. Such classrooms often stem from design processes that tend to focus on building codes and feedback from investors, architects, and planners, which leaves little input from instructors and…

For many years, the Reggio Emilia approach has been in the spotlight of the international debate on early childhood education, attracting countless devoted followers in preschool centres all over the world and inspiring an ever-increasing amount of pedagogical research. At the heart of this educational philosophy, space is considered a 'third…

The physical environment in early childhood education and care is crucial. This paper examines the Swedish government's vision of preschool design in the welfare state of the 1970s and the conceptions of children and society upon which it was based. Presenting an investigation of reports, booklets, and study materials published by various branches…

In the design and development of new school buildings, areas equipped with state-of-the-art technology and large, flexible spaces intended for collaborative teaching and learning are becoming increasingly common. This is in line with an understanding that this kind of learning environment reflects the contexts for work young learners are likely to…

This article explores the characteristics of a successful transition of a school from traditional classrooms to an innovative learning environment. Many schools today are converting traditional classrooms into spaces which are flexible, supporting a wide array of teaching and learning possibilities (i.e. an 'innovative learning environment').…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to share lessons already learned and work currently in progress from one higher education institution's experiences of developing several flexible and technology-enhanced active learning spaces. It further proposes that the potential of such spaces can be more fully realised through the enactment of programmes…

Despite myriad changes to language teaching methods over time, university-level classroom spaces have largely remained the same--until now. Recent innovations in classroom space design center on technological advances, include movable furniture and coffee-shop style rooms, and are believed to facilitate language learning in several ways.…

Classroom design for the 21st-century learning environment should accommodate a variety of learning skills and needs. The space should be large enough so it can be configured to accommodate a number of learning activities. This also includes furniture that provides flexibility and accommodates collaboration and interactive work among students and…

In all modern societies almost everyone of their citizens have spent many years in school buildings, and the largest professional group in modern societies, teachers, is working every day during the working year in school buildings. In spite of this, we know surprisingly little about the influence of school buildings on the people who use them and…

In April 2007 Butler Community College made learning spaces one of its five strategic priorities. The college had just completed a major renovation of the work spaces for the IT division and had started a project to build a student union and create informal learning spaces at the Andover campus. With learning spaces becoming a strategic priority,…

The view that community college developmental studies educators have about the space in which they teach, any renovated or new spaces they were involved in designing, and the type of space in which they would like to teach is examined. The developmental studies educators are experts in their field, having completed The Kellogg Institute at…

Many elementary school teachers with a passion for teaching social studies are finding that the administratively defined time for direct instruction in social studies is becoming increasingly restricted. Fortunately for the teacher who is convinced that social and civic education should be at the center of the elementary school curriculum, where…

Specifications to consider in designing learning spaces. (LS)

Scholarship on factors that promote or hinder academic success of college students abounds, much of it focusing on learning gains and institutional retention of first-year students (Reason, Terenzini, and Domingo, 2006; Terenzini and Reason, 2005; Pascarella and Terenzini, 2005; Braxton, 2000; Astin, 1993; Tinto, 1987). More recently,…

Classrooms often get the short shrift when it comes to designing a space that allows for optimum hearing conditions for students and speaking conditions for teachers. Over the last few years, increasing concern from state regulators and facility designers has focused greater attention on improving acoustics. The main acoustical issues to consider…