Instruction based on active learning is being promoted in higher education by the creation of new collaborative teaching and learning spaces, but capacity does not yet exist for all courses to be held in these new spaces. In this study, we examined how students choose between sections of the same course, with the same materials and techniques used…

Recent years have witnessed the spread of purpose-built active learning classrooms throughout the higher education sector. While these innovative learning spaces are well-suited for a variety of active learning strategies, their lack of a single focal point means they are inconvenient spaces for lecturing. While educational developers often…

This article, based on Basil Bernstein's theoretical framework, aims to contribute to the sociological analysis of the impact of space on the formation of the pedagogical practices of the teachers who teach Arts in Primary education. Data were collected using the research methods of observation and interview on a sample of 20 Art teachers in…

This article seeks to examine the neglected sociomateriality of the classroom and investigates how space, matter and human actors are entangled, interact and take part in the 'space-producing action'. Rather than approaching the classroom as an objective collection of physical units or a stable grid, we see it as something alive, a performance…

This classroom technology pilot explored the ways in which three different tools yielded insights into instructors' and students' use of physical classroom space in a higher education environment. The tools of interest were a ceiling heatmap camera from Panasonic, small ultrawideband movement trackers from Pozyx, and an audio sensor from TSI. The…

An historical commitment to child-centred pedagogy notwithstanding, classrooms for an increasing diversity of young people are constituted by their constrained affordances for learning; a single teacher, configurations of tables and chairs, and digital resources. The remit of teaching in such confines perpetuates passivity, a one size fits all…

This paper maps a teacher's pedagogic practices when teaching young children to produce texts using digital technologies during a literacy lesson for 7-8 year-old children. Pedagogies are broadly understood as what the teacher does in a classroom to facilitate learning in a twenty-first century classroom. The paper argues that the very notion of…

This article is concerned with the influences that are brought to bear on the design of school buildings and the effects that the design of these buildings have on those who teach and learn in them. The article also focuses on the ways in which design is altered in and through the practices of these occupants. We argue that there is a mutual…

Although learning spaces research is not new, research approaches that target the specific teaching and learning experiences of faculty and students who occupy active learning classrooms (ALCs) is nascent. We report on two novels data collection approaches: Flashbacks and Re-Captures. Both leverage faculty reflective practice and provide windows…

Background: The characteristics of the classroom environment play an important role in shaping teaching practices and supporting research-based instructional strategies. One instructional strategy that has reimagined the classroom is the Student-Centered Active Learning Environment with Upside-Down Pedagogies (SCALE-UP). SCALE-UP uses studio-style…

New evidence builds upon the Student Engagement IndexTM and Teacher Engagement IndexTM research (Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, & French, 2019; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, French, & French, 2018; Scott-Webber, Konyndyk, French, Lembke, & Kinney, 2017) determining post-occupancy answers to, "Can we demonstrate that the design of the built…

The physical environment in schools has in the literature of late been gaining recognition as a potential factor supporting educational change. This article draws a single case out of a research sample of 20 schools in Iceland to relate an inventive design process as the school was being developed and study the current state of established school…

Quality design and appropriate space organization in preschool settings can support preschool children's educational activities. Although the relationship between the well-being and development of children and physical settings has been emphasized by many early childhood researchers, there is still a need for theoretical design guidelines that are…

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…

This exploratory case study, arising from a longitudinal project into the establishment of a new secondary school in New Zealand, examines reflective practice through critical friend roles among staff. The paper describes, through the lens of Bourdieu's logic of practice, the implementation of a critical friendship approach linked to the school…