The likelihood of teaching a student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has steadily increased over the past two decades. However, the practical information about working with students with ASD has not increased at a similar rate. Teachers may therefore be unaware of simple modifications they can make to their classrooms to meet the needs of…

This article explores the take-up and imaginaries of open-plan schooling during the 1970s, drawing on examples from Denmark and Victoria (Australia). As well as expressing new forms of classroom design and pedagogical praxis, open plan classrooms stood for reimagining schooling as a social institution and to possibilities for remaking student and…

This dissertation blends architectural history with disability studies to better understand the social construction of disability during childhood in the early twentieth century. Open-air schools and classes emerged as an educational experiment in the United States in 1904 and were abandoned by 1945. These spaces sought to improve the education of…

In unprecedented times, the global community is calling for greater knowledge and engagement in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) to support the decision making and practices of the general community. COVID-19 has highlighted this pressing need and inviting a 'new normal'. But STEM is not the core business of early childhood.…

This exploratory case study examined the kinds of activity that a 'deskless school" (i.e., flexible physical school spaces) engenders among pupils and teachers. We also considered the meaning and significance that pupils and teachers attach to various features of the school, as well as the associated action possibilities. The data were…

Classroom redesign is being recognized globally as necessary to better increase student's enjoyment levels, engagement, collaboration, and learning. Instead of seeing traditional classrooms in a fixed setting where students are seated in rows facing the front of the room, classrooms are being arranged in multiple ways. As a result of this focus on…

This book brings together the notions of material school design and educational governance in the first such text to address this critical interrelationship in any depth. In addressing the issue of governance through analysing current and historical material school designs, it looks at the intersection of politics, economics, aesthetics and…

The physical factors, which were studied less often than the other factors affecting students' learning, were considered in this study. The present study investigated the effect of the flexibility and non-flexibity of the physical classroom setting on undergraduate students' learning. The study adopted a mixed-method research design. The…

The purpose of this qualitative study was to extend the understanding of the characteristics of a classroom environment that impact students' engagement in academics and therefore has the potential to positively impact student achievement scores. Data were collected through content analysis to analyze for reoccurring themes to assess how the…

Resistance to change is a central topic in the study of change management, with resistance by employees often portrayed as an inevitable and undesirable response to planned change that managers must attempt to overcome. While resistance can be detrimental to organizations, it can also be beneficial, by prompting deeper analysis of a change, or by…

Teachers' efforts to manage classroom social dynamics can have positive effects on students' social relationships. One way that teachers may seek to manage these relationships is through seating arrangements. In a randomized control trial, van den Berg, Segers, and Cillessen (2012) found that closer proximity in the classroom can reduce disliking…

This study draws on the analysis of 56 hours of classroom video recordings and daily room usage checklists as well as interview data from students and faculty teaching in a large, flexible, technology-rich, and collaborative classroom, "Collaboration Café." The goal is to explore faculty practices and student perspectives to increase our…

Much of the literature on university learning spaces focuses on the undergraduate student experience, neglecting experiences of research students in new spaces. This article is concerned with research students' needs and expectations of a learning space. It focuses on a recently opened shared activity-based learning space that was specifically…

Traditional sole-teacher classrooms are being replaced by large, open, flexible learning environments in New Zealand schools. Teacher collaboration within these shared teaching and learning spaces raises important questions about curriculum organisation in secondary-school settings. If secondary teachers are to work collaboratively in shared…

Empathy is seen as essential for user-centered design and thus needs to be taken into consideration in design education. Personas are a design method that is meant to promote empathy with users and are also used to foster an empathic design approach in educational settings. Empathic involvement is considered to be particularly important to…