This paper reports on the study of private theories of Science, Technology, Engineering and Technology ("STEM") teachers and their learning design practices at International Schools in Hong Kong. The literature emphasises that teachers are the key to successfully implementing STEM education. However, most are unprepared and ill-equipped…

Faculty and student perception of engagement in two (mobile desks or mobile tables and chairs) low-tech active learning classroom (ALC) designs were compared. Student (n = 413) perceptions of engagement were measured with the Engaged Learning Index (ELI) and the Social Context and Learning Environments (SCALE) instruments at the beginning and end…

Informed by social cognitive theory, this study explores teacher perceptions regarding open plan learning contexts, with foci on academic outcomes, social interaction, the accommodation of students with additional learning needs, and how to manage administrative tasks, within this non-traditional context. This quantitative study was facilitated by…

A growing diversity of classroom designs, broadly labeled as active learning classrooms, is a rising development across higher education institutions. Along with the construction of these new spaces, stakeholders have developed new vocabularies and concepts for articulating and identifying the impact of new classroom designs for teaching and…

Innovative learning environments are increasingly built and implemented in schools, but are not necessarily being used according to designers' intentions. The goal of this study was to examine teacher perceptions of the innovative learning spaces they were charged with using and to determine if they were being used effectively and as designed. The…

Physical classroom environments for young children and the quality of those environments have typically been studied by utilizing various rating scales. Research is limited on early childhood educators' perspectives and decision-making processes in striving to create optimal physical classroom environments during the school year. This qualitative…

The extent to which teachers make changes in classroom seating reflects, in part, the degree to which they value promoting positive peer relationships in the classroom. We assessed the frequency with which teachers made both minor (i.e., involving only 2-3 students) and major (involving half or more students in the class) changes in classroom…

The modeling of a modern preschool curriculum is contextually conditioned and represents a complex process. Each kindergarten has its "own identity," its "DNA," just as children, preschool teachers and other participants in the educational process have their "own individual equations." Contextual learning is at the…

Whether schools help or hinder creativity is a topic of vibrant, international debate. Some contend that the focus on structure, rote learning and standardised assessments associated with formal education stifles children's creativity. Others argue that creativity, much like numeracy or literacy, is a skill that can be taught, and educational…

The main objective of the study was to understand specific ways in which a flexible, technology-enhanced space can create opportunities for student engagement. Despite a few studies that address classroom elements such as furniture, researchers argue for more-holistic attention to the materials of learning environments to better support the…

Three student engagement measures were collected for a class taught by an experienced instructor in two active learning classrooms with dissimilar seating arrangements. Student perception of engagement was similar between the learning spaces. However, instructor perception and researcher observation indicated greater engagement in the classroom…

The purpose of this study was to explore and attempt to understand the experiences, along with the efforts and perceptions of those efforts, of teachers who implemented flexible seating during the COVID-19 pandemic. A semi-structured interview protocol was used and aligned with the theoretical framework, constructivist learning theory.…

The concept of 'flexible seating' has emerged as a possibility to meeting the goals of an active learning classroom. Recent scholarship has suggested that numerous student learning predictors are enhanced when interacting with flexible seating. This study aims to fill a gap in the literature by investigating the effects of flexible seating from a…

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…

Increasingly, Active Learning Classrooms (ALCs) are being designed and built by higher education institutions to support instructors in adopting and implementing active learning pedagogies. In this study, we explore how instructors perceive changes in their teaching after teaching in ALCs. Our study focuses on the perceptions of faculty members…