Children and youth love to explore things that are interesting. How can we utilize this positive energy in our schools? How do classrooms look that makes this work? I am looking for examples.
" Color, Light & Room to Explore: 21st Century School Architecture Boosts 21st Century Learning
"The Industrial Age gave us the assembly line. It also instilled the philosophy that education — and the school buildings where learning happens — needed to mimic that style of design, with facilities built around long corridors that file students into boxlike classrooms filled with rows of desks but little or no natural light.
But in the 21st century, education is moving away from the assembly-line mentality, encouraging students to collaborate, work hands-on, explore their environment, and continually engage with fresh ideas.
School architecture can support that model.
“There are so many schools out there built decades ago in the factory model of working and learning,” says Matt Lowe, director of design at Illinois-based DLA Architects, a firm specializing in education architecture. “Now, learning is preparing kids for the unknown and teaching them the critical skills that learning isn’t just from one person and kids absorbing, but kids need to be very active and hands-on.
Fostering collaboration and exploration, modern education architecture supports a variety of learning styles by providing diversity of space, Lowe says. A typical design incorporates breakout rooms off classrooms, or small pods of rooms, which provide a transparent view into the classroom as well as the possibility of acoustical privacy. Students can use these rooms to retake a test, or work with classmates on a group project that might disrupt the larger class, rather than being sent out into the hall, as in traditional school buildings.
“We are giving them diverse spaces to learn, to focus, to collaborate, whether individually or with others,” Lowe says.(https://www.the74million.org/article/color-light-room-to-explore-21st-century-school-architecture-boosts-21st-century-learning/)".
Children love experiments which seem like magic tricks. For example: Take a lucky coin which is made of nickel. Take another coins. And put each of them in an envelop. Give your students. Ask them to mix envelopes. And Find your nickel coin using a secret compass. Then explain and teach them this magic trick.
A good guideline that most neuroscientists, like John Medina, will probably give you is to take into account the fact that learning is a behavior inherent to humans, primates and even mammals in general. Then to look into how did learning evolve, what mechanisms it used and to what environments it responded to. When you do this, you will find that play and imitation are the basic mechanisms for learning somethings, while exploring and trial and error are the basis for other learnings. In any event, we evolved to learn by exposing ourselves to either fictitious situations (play) or real situations (explore) in the most realistic circumstances, and mostly while moving and keeping an eye on a complex environment full of potential treats and threats. So the classroom needs to be designed based on evolutionary semiology to give students the maximum meaning producing potential, and the learning experiences need to be 'portraits' of real life that allow for trial and error without fatal consequences. In this latter regards, art is the only original human learning mechanism that we use coupled with mammal-primate mechanisms.
I think classrooms can be interesting if teachers use varieties of instructional materials that suit the learners developmental stages. Students should also be actively involve in class activities. Furthermore, classrooms can also be interesting if teachers consider the needs and interest of the learners before selecting content, instructional materials, teaching methods etc
" Color, Light & Room to Explore: 21st Century School Architecture Boosts 21st Century Learning
"The Industrial Age gave us the assembly line. It also instilled the philosophy that education — and the school buildings where learning happens — needed to mimic that style of design, with facilities built around long corridors that file students into boxlike classrooms filled with rows of desks but little or no natural light.
But in the 21st century, education is moving away from the assembly-line mentality, encouraging students to collaborate, work hands-on, explore their environment, and continually engage with fresh ideas.
School architecture can support that model.
“There are so many schools out there built decades ago in the factory model of working and learning,” says Matt Lowe, director of design at Illinois-based DLA Architects, a firm specializing in education architecture. “Now, learning is preparing kids for the unknown and teaching them the critical skills that learning isn’t just from one person and kids absorbing, but kids need to be very active and hands-on.
Fostering collaboration and exploration, modern education architecture supports a variety of learning styles by providing diversity of space, Lowe says. A typical design incorporates breakout rooms off classrooms, or small pods of rooms, which provide a transparent view into the classroom as well as the possibility of acoustical privacy. Students can use these rooms to retake a test, or work with classmates on a group project that might disrupt the larger class, rather than being sent out into the hall, as in traditional school buildings.
“We are giving them diverse spaces to learn, to focus, to collaborate, whether individually or with others,” Lowe says.(https://www.the74million.org/article/color-light-room-to-explore-21st-century-school-architecture-boosts-21st-century-learning/)".
It all comes down to the teacher .. we can have the best of the classrooms with the best of technology or aesthetics .. but it is the the teacher who can help in opening up the minds of the children !
Nazia Asad What a lovely classroom. Thank you for your input.
I think that this can be achieved through effective teaching, where learners are taught to attack ideas rather than attack people "Koldol" ... which means that it transforms the learning process into a partnership between teacher and learner.
It is also the type of teaching that actually leads to the desired change and to achieve the goals set for the material, whether cognitive or emotional or skill, and works to build a balanced personality of the student.
Classroom teaching can be boring especially when it is a 100% theory dictated through a presentation.
Children learn more when the lessons are engaging, two way, interactive and combine theory and practical Learning.
I recently volunteered for a Robotics day were we built small robots with Children. I feel because the activity was interactive and they got to build a small robot it kept them more engaged and sparked their interest engineering, potentially inspiring them to do more in the future.
There are several strategies that can be adopted to make education more enjoyable for students. Collaborative learning is a systematic educational strategy of modern learning strategies that encourage small groups of students to work together to achieve a common goal. Collaborative learning gives students an opportunity to work with others and interact with them. , In addition to knowledge of different views by listening to the views of colleagues from students, | Research shows that students learn more effectively when they work together than they do individually. Collaborative learning also improves students' self-confidence while instilling the value of cooperation, co-operation, and self-reliance.
Hello Dear Colleagues
As a learning theoretician belonging to the behaviorist School, Skinner, says:
"Psychology is a science, and teaching is an art; and the sciences do not, by themselves, have the power to engender the arts. It requires the intermediary of an inventive spirit, which makes applications"
To get my Magister degree (like Ph.D degree : Bac + 8 years) I worked on intelligent learning environments, and proposed a "Learning Companions System"; profit from good contributions and perturbation of the classroom's companions "good" and "bad" ones (see my paper, unfortunately in French):
Conference Paper Une architecture multi-agents d’un système d’apprentissage a...
Since that I have and apply my "own learning strategies":
Merge both behaviorist and cognitivist theoretician learning school's concepts in an Active classroom;
N.B: I deal with Master's students.
Sincerely, Djamel.
Djamel Zeghida Thank you for lovely input and sharing your experiences. I also work mainly with master students.
By creating an interesting weather through the process of teaching
I also think placements are a good method of learning. In the UK a lot of universities do sandwich courses. This involves for example for an MEng three years taught, one year in industry and a final taught year.
How is does this help? Well...
It makes the student more employable because they have 1 year experience working in a relevant field. When they return for their final year they often have a project to complete from the company. Often they are offered a position with the company so they are guarenteed a job when they finish their degree.
In any design the classroom itself will not be a very fun place. The major task is to bring students out of classroom -- virtually (there are growing opportunities now with Internet and modern IT technologies), mentally (for example, linking math with properties of real objects) or even physically -- moving the biology classes to the parks or hospitals and sociology classes -- in the closest slum, railway station or just a supermarket.
Mostly, in North Africa, I may say we're in shortage of such classrooms nor capable adapted teachers for such behavior with students ...!!!
Non formal education like youth work concept helps a lot to increase the interactivity, but also to keep the focus of students on the topics elaborated.
Personal experiences of teachers explained in regard to the lectures are also interesting.
The class room should be set up in a laboratory format with plenty of blackboard space, central tables, soem with computers and other equipment which would facilitate a hands-on model building. The teacher could start with a topic and elicit student opinions and proceed from there providing ample opportunity for the students to look something up on a computer or build a mechanical model to illustrate a concept or a possibility.
Innovation can be broadly thought of as new ideas, new ways of looking at things, new methods or products that have value. Innovation contains the idea of output, of actually producing or doing something differently, making something happen or implementing something new. Innovation almost always involves hard work; persistence and perseverance are necessary as many good ideas never get followed through and developed.
Creativity is an active process necessarily involved in innovation. It is a learning habit that requires skill as well as specific understanding of the contexts in which creativity is being applied. The creative process is at the heart of innovation and often the words are used interchangeably.
10 teaching strategies that you can do to keep your class interested and engaged.
1. Discover new things together – It’s much more fun for both parties when students and teachers learn new things together.
2. Make it interactive – If you want your students to be interested in what you are teaching them, you must make it interactive.
3. Incorporate mystery into your lessons – Learning is the most fun when it’s surprising. Don’t just tell them information; cloak it in to mystery.
4. Be crazy, but show you care – Let loose; laugh; make fun of yourself. Don’t worry about sacrificing your authority.
5. Participate in projects – I had a creative science professor at my school who would bring his own material to class for the students to workshop. It was great fun for all of us, and enjoyable for him as well.
6. Avoid “going through the motions” – Make an effort to be fresh, try new things, take risks, make mistakes, and enjoy the moment.
7. Share your passion with students – Show students how you have fun. Passion is contagious. If you’re having a good time, chances are your students will too.
8. Laugh at your students’ jokes – It’s one of the best ways to ensure teachers and students have fun: enjoy one another.
9. Replace lectures with conversations – Why should teaching be so passive? Forget the sage on the stage and engage your students in a casual conversation like you would a good friend.
10. Enjoy yourself – We pay a lot of attention to those people, who enjoy themselves.
Ibraheem Kadhom Faroun Thank you for your interesting input. I will test your suggestions.
ان جميع الأطفال لديهم ميول ورغبات الى أشياء قد تكون قصة او قد تكون احدى الألعاب الرياضية او الإلكترونية ومن خلال التربية الاسرية نستطيع معرفة رغبة الطفل وفق استمارة استطلاعية يمكن من خلالها توفير هذه الرغبات وربطها ضمن الدرس كذلك التطور الحاصل في التعلم الإلكتروني يجعلنا نحدد بعض الأهداف التي تحقق المتعه وتنكر التفكير لدى الأطفال خلال الفصل الدراسي اي بمعنى التنويع لأكثر من مهارة خلال الفصل
Mohannad Nazar Thank you for interresting input. I have used google translate, so I hope I god the correct understanding. Unfortunatly I do not speak arabic.
There are a number of ways. Lessons should be lively. Real life situations should be used. Audio-visual materials should be used. Participants should be active learners rather than passive learners. Oral presentations should be encouraged. Kjartan Skogly Kversøy
Classrooms will become interesting and lively places for learning through exploration and fun making only in the absence of an adult teacher who is an authoritative figure for the children. Children’s initiated explorations for learning in the classrooms with a child-teacher have been successfully conducted by many schools. However, this kind of experimentation cannot be made regular classroom activities.
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