This current study explores the function of physical space as a metaphor for freedom and sexual expression in Benito Pérez Galdós's novel Tristana (1892) and Luis Buñuel's loose filmic adaptation (1970). The female walk, a foundational activity in the formative process of the subject, will serve Tristana as a path towards emancipation and freedom,…

On the summer solstice of June 2010, a time of constant Arctic light, 14 conference delegates gathered in Yellowknife to fly further north past the tree line, and to a lake downstream of the frozen headwaters of the Mara River. The romance and reality of the conference group in that place--the caribou, muskox, bear and wolf encounters, their…

This study was designed to understand how a school can transform its instructional practices and collaborative structures to bring about rigorous, relevant, and engaging learning for all students. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to determine how a school can create a culture of innovation in teaching practices. This case study…

Background: Studio-based courses - the primary approach in design education--have been viewed as effective environments for learning. However, few studies have utilized an ecological lens to explore how the studio environment creates opportunities for social interaction through immersive studies of studio learning. Purpose: We engaged in an…

The "Teaching Green School Building" is an emergent type of school building that attempts to engage building users with environmental issues in buildings. Architectural interventions in these buildings range from signage to interactive touch screens to gardens and demonstration kitchens that foster educational programmes about…

This article critically reviews the methodologies and methods that have been used for the evaluation of physical learning environments. To contextualize discussion about the evaluation of learning spaces, we initially chart the development of post-occupancy evaluation (POE) for non-domestic buildings. We then discuss the recent evolution of POE…

This study addresses the need to better understand how providers' perceptions of indoor and outdoor childcare settings can set the stage for arranging play spaces to optimise children's moderate-to-vigorous physical play. Childcare providers' perceptions of the level of physical activity, safety, and quality that children experience…

This paper describes a study of sixth grade children's conceptions of nature and the environment. In so doing, it asks that environmental educators pay more attention to children's preconceived notions of environment and nature. Should this occur the theory-practice gap in environmental education may be diminished. Learners' concept…

This article focuses on how the representational properties of manipulatives affect the strategies children employ in problem solving. Two studies examined the effect of physical materials on 4-7-year-old children's problem solving strategies in a numerical (i.e., additive composition) task. The first study showed how children not only identified…

Within low-income communities in low- and high-resource countries, there is a profound need for more effective schools that are better able to foster child and youth development and support student learning. This paper presents a theoretical framework for understanding the role of teacher ecology in influencing teacher effectiveness and, through…

Social work's traditional emphasis on the individual in the context of social environments has resulted in a neglect of the person in the context of physical environments. This conceptual article addresses this oversight by presenting three subconcepts of place--place attachment, place identity, and territoriality--and draws on research examples…

This comprehensive literature review (CLR) is an analysis and synthesis of literature, observations, interviews, and artifacts as a means to answer the question, "Why is Iceland so innovative?" Iceland is considered by international indices as a leading nation in innovation in many fields, including design, music, art, and literature. A…

The purpose of this study was to gain deeper insights into how technology restructures the classroom as a spatial setting and how the positioning of these technologies can be associated with educational practices. The research includes a photographic and schematic representation of 115 classrooms in 12 primary schools in Belgium, resulting in a…

In vision-based augmented-reality (AR) environments, users view the physical world through a video feed or device that "augments" the display with a graphical or informational overlay. Our goal in this manuscript is to ask "how" and "why" these new technologies create opportunities for learning. We suggest that AR is…

This case study focuses on a Native American family's experience on a walk in an urban forest preserve. Drawing on interaction analysis traditions, we analyze video data and transcript data to characterize how learning unfolds in place, in this case an urban forest. We build on this analysis, as well as the work of Indigenous scholars, to…