Space for Learning… in Lockdown
In this expert from the award-winning book Learning In Lockdown we delve into how to make space work for you at home.
Designing Schools for Cultural Connection
If you walked into a modern classroom, anywhere in the world, would you immediately know exactly where you are?
Pedagogy Drives Change
Most educators inherit a teaching space that is a manifestation of an educational experience whose time has passed. What you do next matters.
Whiteboard Tables: Everything You Need to Know
The school’s Director asked: “Which aspect of all the classroom redesign most impacted learning?” The answer came quickly: whiteboard tables.
See, Hear and Breathe: What Matters in Learning Spaces
What are the common trends coming through in the empirical research related to modern learning environments?
Learning Spaces: Does the Emperor Wear No Clothes?
Learning spaces are an intangible yet vital X factor in education. Beyond the data, what evidence supports the learning spaces movement?
Modern Learning Spaces for Everyone: Extrovert & Introvert
Can modern learning spaces be differentiated for all learners; extrovert and introvert? One might easily argue that the modern classroom is very much taking a page from the modern office space. Offices and schools alike [...]
The Case for Time
I recently read George Couros' post expounding on the importance of not only space in modern learning environments, but also time. I couldn’t agree more with Corous’ thesis. I think that while the redesign of [...]
21st Century Skills via Modern Learning Environments
In his seminal 2006 TED Talk, subsequently viewed on the TED website over 30 million times, Sir Ken Robinson said: “If you think of it, children starting school this year will be retiring in 2065. [...]
Designing for Risk
I recently attended a learning spaces conference in Singapore. One of the keynote speakers at the conference was Japanese architect Takaharu Tezuka, known for his TED talk "The best Kindergarten you've ever seen". It was [...]
Three Classroom Design Tips to Maximize Learning
Busy days rearranging furniture and organizing resources characterise the build up to a new school year. Mix in a pinch of nervous energy and a whole lot of good intention and teachers can spend hours, indeed dozens of [...]
Cognitive Dissonance and the Flexible Classroom
Teaching in an extremely flexible classroom allows teachers to purposefully redesign their environment to tailor to a specific lesson. Whether that's setting the stage for collaboration, conversation or viewing the furnishings within the space are [...]
Breaking Out of Your Cell
Modern education has moved beyond the confines of traditional and industrial age classrooms as it responds to an interconnected and rapidly changing globalized world. Bells, cells and the onset of the modern classroom At the [...]
Field Trips as Learning Environments
While the four walls of a classroom often dominate this blog it is incredibly important to understand that while clever design can stimulate learning, so can the well designed use of the environment outside your [...]
The Flexible Classroom
When we talk about Modern Learning Environments one of the biggest buzz words is 'flexibility'. Modern learning spaces need to turn on a dime and work for a variety of purposes. With that in mind- [...]
How Flexible Furnishings Motivate
A well-designed learning space should have a motivating effect on the students, teachers and community members who interact with it. If we accept that space can be used to boost motivation then this surely needs to be [...]
Classroom Audit: Take Another Look at Your Teaching Space
Looking to improve the impact that the third teacher has on your teaching and learning? We are pleased to offer a simple resource that provides you with structure for an audit of your classroom spaces. We [...]
The Coolest EDU Space Products Around!
So money's no object?- Lucky you... Here are 6 awesome products you'd love in your learning space. The Hokki Stool by VS - A simply designed stool with a twist- a rounded base that allows [...]
Discard the Desk- Collapsing the hierarchy
A few weeks back a parent met with a colleague of mine regarding their child. The meeting went well and the conversation quickly turned towards the classroom redesigns that had taken place across ES homerooms [...]
Desks vs. Tables
In modern learning environments there is a fundamental shift occurring. The change is quite simple and is actually cost-saving for the schools and work environments that are getting onboard. It is all about moving from desks [...]