Purpose: Systematic efforts to study students' use of informal learning spaces are crucial for determining how, when and why students use such spaces. This case study provides an example of an effort to evaluate an informal learning space on the basis of students' usage of the space and the features within the space. Design/methodology/approach:…

On September 13, 1994, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act, commonly known as the 1994 crime bill. The most far-reaching piece of criminal justice legislation Congress ever passed, the bill incentivized states to pass harsher sentencing laws and build more prisons. Among a slate of punitive and…

The article presents the results of a large-scale Polish project aimed at examining the quality of early childhood education and care using the SACERS research tool. Although the SACERS scale consists of 47 items, this article focuses mainly on the data concerning the assessment of space and furnishings of 140 school common rooms in terms of the…

This article, based on Basil Bernstein's theoretical framework, aims to contribute to the sociological analysis of the impact of space on the formation of the pedagogical practices of the teachers who teach Arts in Primary education. Data were collected using the research methods of observation and interview on a sample of 20 Art teachers in…

Learning spaces in higher education are fraught with colonial barriers such as teacher-centered, front facing, stark, feelingless, and unwelcoming classrooms that diminish students' feelings of well-being. For pre-service teachers, these are also the types of classrooms that they often inherit as they foray into the profession. Three Bachelor of…

Kentucky Administrative Regulation 705 KAR 4:231, general program standards for secondary career and technical education (CTE) programs, states that all CTE facilities shall be of adequate size to accommodate the work of their respective program(s). The material within this resource guide is designed to aid school administrators, teachers, boards…

The places where high school teachers teach have a relationship with what and how their students learn. Certain aspects of the physical environment have been examined for decades, such as those that affect basic physiological needs including but not limited to climate control, air quality, appropriate lighting, and cleanliness. In addition to…

Safe learning spaces allow children to explore their environment in an open and inquiring way, whereas unsafe spaces constrain, frustrate and disengage children from experiencing the fullness of their learning spaces. This study explores how children make sense of safe and unsafe learning spaces, and how this understanding affects the ways they…

This paper presents the conclusions of a study, carried out in collaboration with schools in six European countries, which focused on tomorrow's physical learning environments. The study, which stemmed from a project entitled Forum for the Future and which was funded by the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE), was designed to contribute to…

Des Moines is an urban community located in the heart of Iowa. Des Moines Public Schools serves 32,000 students in a system with 62 buildings, including Central Campus--a Regional Academy. Central Campus is housed in four buildings, including the main campus at 1800 Grand located on the western edge of downtown Des Moines. As a regional academy,…

Lone Star College had a unique opportunity in 2000 when it began planning its new CyFair campus in suburban Houston. The school wasn't retrofitting existing buildings or contending with entrenched attitudes about what type of physical environment best supported learning. So when it designed its sprawling 550,000-square-foot campus, paid for with…

Many elementary school teachers with a passion for teaching social studies are finding that the administratively defined time for direct instruction in social studies is becoming increasingly restricted. Fortunately for the teacher who is convinced that social and civic education should be at the center of the elementary school curriculum, where…

Mobility and flexibility are the touchstones of 21st-century K-12 architecture, which sets aside conventional classroom design to create an environment that best integrates technology with learning. This article talks about San Jose State University's state-of-the-art, 10,000-square-foot Academic Success Center in California. At the heart of the…

In order to sustain strong academic programs and to provide a safe and comfortable environment for learning in the state's public colleges and universities, the facilities that house the institutions' programs must be maintained and replenished. The size, condition, and adequacy of these facilities have an impact on the quantity and quality of the…