CONNECTIONS BETWEEN THINKING ABOUT LEARNING AND DESIGN OF NEW SCHOOLS
In 2010 we demolished a
large subsiding classroom block at Freemans Bay School and built new learning hubs in a two story
building. This building design was scoped to develop flexible spaces to enable
teachers to teach and students to learn in a variety of ways.
The challenge of
totally rebuilding Freemans Bay School sparked my interest in thinking deeper
about how spaces are designed and used to engage learners.
Visits to schools,
universities, libraries and co-corporate organisations in New Zealand and Australis have played a
significant role in shaping my thinking around design and pedagogy. I have had
many rich conversations with; educational, Ministry of Education, architects
and business leaders with a passion for exploring change and innovation in
their own contexts.
I am fortunate to be a recipient for the Auckland Primary Principal Association and ASB Bank Travel Fellowship for one school term in 2014. This is an opportunity to visit schools in UK and Scandinavia to explore school design.
I am interested in how the physical design can drive thinking around teaching and learning.
Specifically the following key questions are what I am looking at.
Pedagogical
· What are the beliefs
and thinking about learning evident in new schools visited across different
countries?
o the schools key
beliefs about learning
o why they believe it
and what does it look like in practice
What does teaching and learning look like in these new design classrooms?
o
role
of teachers
o
role
of students
o
role
of e-learning
How have the new
designs enabled new teaching and learning practices to emerge?
o the processes and
preparation for teachers that was required to transition to the new spaces
o the innovative
pedagogies that have emerged due to new
design
o the types of practices
that have emerged in the new spaces (e.g. collaboration, groups, team teaching,
social interactions, flexible learning, personalised learning) and how these
have changed over time
o the culture, leadership and the organisation that facilitate
(or impede) innovation pedagogies in design
o changes of job
functions of staff that have emerged to match thinking about pedagogy within the design
Physical Design
·
How are the school
beliefs about learning reflected in space design?
o ways the learning
spaces support the schools thinking about learning
o the relationships
between and significance for learning in particular spaces
o the relationships
between indoor and outdoor spaces and flows and their role in learning
o changes the school would
like to make and why
·
What impact has new
school designs had on?
o students perception
o teachers
o school community
E-learning
·
How has the new
physical design supported e-learning?
o the ways that personalised
learning through technologies is supported by the design
o the types of
e-learning practices that have emerged in the new spaces
o relationships between
virtual and built environments
·
What changes have been
made to embrace new technologies?
o how design
facilitates e-learning
o ways the learning
space has enabled evolving forms of pedagogy
I am very excited to be doing this research and will use this blog to share my findings as I go.
I am also interested in any research on the topic - so if you have any to share please let me know via the comments on the blog.
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