Architects and designers have a responsibility to provide an inclusive built environment. However, for those with a diagnosis of autism spectrum disorder (ASD), the built environment can be a frightening and confusing place, difficult to negotiate and tolerate. The challenge of integrating more fully into society is denied by an alienating built…

Lockers are often begrudging investments, scraped from the bottom of the budget barrel. This is unfortunate for a number of reasons, one of which is that they often serve as the internal face of the school: endless, grim sentries lining mile-long halls. Alternately, they may be entombed, a catacomb of visual obstacles stuffed into independent…

This report explores classrooms and adjacent corridors which, when combined, form one of the central areas within the college campus. Additionally, this report questions why these areas do not reflect learning centered principles and flexibility in their physical design. This report incorporates research by those who have explored and in some…

There is conflicting evidence on the effect of seat location on student performance and participation in the classroom. The two major hypotheses are (1) that seat location influences student behavior and (2) that seat preference and selection is associated with personality traits of students. This study evaluated both hypotheses within a 55…

Impending change can provide us with the opportunity to rethink and renew the things that we do. The first phase of the Australian Curriculum implementation offers primary school teachers the chance to examine their approaches to science learning and teaching. This paper focuses on the perceptions of three primary school teachers regarding what…

While UK universities see group work as essential to building higher order intellectual and team skills, many international students are unfamiliar with this way of studying. Group work is also a focus of home students' concerns. Cultural differences in the interpretation of space for learning or how spatial issues affect group work processes has…

Space is both an asset and a burden for colleges and universities. On the one hand, space holds enormous value for institutions; their campuses and buildings are worth, in many cases, hundreds of millions of dollars. Space is the medium in which the institution operates. Online courses have proven that education can be conducted anywhere, but most…

Space has been of growing significance in social theory in recent years, yet, explorations of it in the scholarship of higher education have been limited. This is surprising, given the critical role space has in shaping staff and students' engagement with the university. Taking a practice-based approach and focusing on academic identities, this…

Space requirements for accommodating wheeled mobility devices and their users in the built environment are key components of standards for accessible design. These requirements typically include dimensions for clear floor areas, maneuvering clearances, seat and knee clearance heights, as well as some reference dimensions on wheeled mobility device…

What makes a successful informal learning space is a topic in need of further research. The body of discourse on informal space design is drawn from learning theory, placemaking, and architecture, with a need for understanding of the synergy between the three. Findings from a longitudinal, quantitative, and qualitative study at Sheffield Hallam…

This paper presents findings from research conducted in two primary schools in South Australia with New Arrivals Programs (NAPs). The paper considers findings derived from a content analysis of photo elicitation data and a thematic analysis of focus group data in order to elaborate some of the ways in which the uses of, and assumptions about,…

A garden can be a magical place for young children and offers them rich and engaging learning experiences as they interact with a variety of plants and wildlife throughout the year. This book guides you through the process of creating a garden, however small, for young children. It looks at the impact a garden area can have on children's overall…

This paper explores the development of children's centres in England between 2004 and 2008, focusing on the newly created centres that have been located on primary and nursery school sites. Using both an analysis of policy documents and interview data from three urban local authorities, we examine the use of premises and the differing priorities…

On the third floor of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum (USHMM), in Washington, D.C., inside a glass case, lie thousands of shoes. Old and mismatched, moldering after sixty years, they are what remains of countless Jews who were told to disrobe and who were subsequently murdered at Majdanek, Poland, during the final years of the…

In Cynthia Selfe's "Technology and Literacy: A Story about the Perils of Not Paying Attention," she advises that composition teachers "have to pay attention to technology." Similar to Brittany B. Cottrill's discussion of issues of access, this reflective piece pays attention to another issue concerning technology, specifically…