The Evolution of Our Learning Spaces

I graduated from middle school in 1998, and while that year is before our Pleasantdale Middle School students were even born, I know I am still pretty young.  One would think that my educational experience would be pretty similar to that of our current students...but in actuality, that is not the case.  Clearly, the evolution of technology has dramatically changed the landscape of education today.  However, what may not be as glaringly obvious is the fact that the learning spaces, the physical environments in which the students learn, have transformed over the years as well.

Students work in pairs
in Mrs. Bubulka's class.

When I was in school, I always sat in an individual desk which was always arranged neatly in a row.  I remember vividly students getting in trouble for kicking the basket on the desk in front of them.  Nowadays, there are still occasions when students sit in rows (independent work is certainly still valued!), but more often than not, students are sitting with a partner or a small group in order to compare and contrast ideas and work collaboratively with one another.  This means students are seated around tables or at desks clustered into groups.

Students work at tables
in Mrs. Triggs's class.

Many of us remember the movie clip from Ferris Bueller's Day Off where the Ben Stein plays the epically boring economics teacher lecturing on the Hawley-Smoot Tariff Act.  Luckily for our students, lectures like these are a rarity nowadays.  Our students are encouraged to construct their own learning, and teachers take on the role of facilitators who ask strategic questions, probe deeper thinking, and provide students with opportunities to engage in critical thinking tasks.  Because much of the learning nowadays is student-centered, there is rarely a "front" of the classroom.  Sometimes students are facing the side of the room where content is projected on the Promethean board, while other times students do not have the need to "face" any direction in particular since the teacher as "sage on the stage" does not have a central role in lesson delivery.  This allows for more flexibility when teachers set up their classrooms since every nook and cranny has the potential to become a learning space.  In fact, the District 107 Future Planning Committee spent a significant amount of time discussing the future of learning spaces in our schools, and we are excited to share some of that work with you in the upcoming weeks.

A student works on his art
in the hallway at PMS.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, we know that students learn best when they are comfortable in their environment.  This means providing students as many opportunities as possible to have a voice in how the room is arranged and providing them with some ownership in the classroom environment.  When I was in school, student work was hung on bulletin boards outside the classroom, but often times the classroom walls themselves were for store-bought posters.  While these posters may provide useful information, they did not give students a sense of ownership in their learning or in the classroom.  Now when we take a look in our classrooms, we see student work all around the room.  Often times the student work serve as anchors for future classroom discussions and points of reference.  Teachers may ask students, "Remember when..." while pointing to a student-created poster hanging on the wall.  This validates the students' learning and reinforces the classroom culture where high expectations for all students are valued.

As our world changes, so much education, and along with that the physical space our in which our children learn.  Stay tuned...next week we will be sharing the District 107 Future Planning Committee's vision for the continued evolution of learning spaces in our district!

Displaying student work in classrooms has become the norm.