A democratic learning environment - creating spaces for equality and possibilities

THE SCHOOL - A VITAL PART OF SOCIETY

The school has played a central role in our society for a long time. Traditionally, there has been a dialogue between architecture, pedagogy and the ideals of society regarding the school’s design. From the mid-nineteenth-century little school, where the teacher were close to the children, living upstairs from the lecture room, to the early 20th century teachings with a clear hierarchy, placing the teacher high above the children – both in society but also physically in the class room.

The schools and learning ideals has since evolved, reflecting the developments in society. Something Malin Valsö, together with her co-author psychologist Frida Malmgren, has explored in their book. They reflect about the impact of the physical learning environment in schools, mapping different areas of improvement.

“LET ME GOOGLE THAT FOR YOU”

In Scandinavian schools, the architectural trend since the start of the millennium has been open and bright, much glass and sometimes no walls. This architecture is, according to Valsö, linked to the idea of ​​“the 21st century skills”. The focus of this teaching being that you do not need to know facts anymore, you can google it. The assumption is that in the 21st century, we will not need knowledge, you will need other skills – such as the ability to collaborate, communicate and problem-solve. The architectural response to this educational idea resulted in very open environments, where the pupils could meet and collaborate. The problem with these environments, according to Valsö, is that they are based on a false assumption.

– These are important abilities, no doubt, but we need factual knowledge as a basis for being able to solve problems. If I'm good at chess then I can meet a tough opponent in chess. But I will not be better at balancing my finances, because I don't have the facts or the foundation. This is also true for the pupils. Just because you are skilful at problem-solving in math, you cannot use it to calculate a grammatically correct sentence structure. We need the factual knowledge as a foundation.

DESIGNING SUSTAINABLE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS  

As Valsö states, it is difficult to learn communication and cooperation in excessively large and unclear environments. A vague environment gives no sense of security, and due to all distraction it can be difficult to concentrate. The interruptions are dangerous, because it leads to "multi-tasking", which tires the brain and impair our cognitive ability. It places high demands on students not to lose focus.

Not only does the physical environment distract us, but also the digital screens we bring in to our class rooms. Video is used for educational purposes in different ways today. This has given us the concept of “second hand screening”. If you look at a screen, it will distract you. My eyes are drawn automatically if there are moving images on my screen, or the person sitting next to me, and it affects my concentration.

– Students are meant to learn new things, Valsö explains, and it is far more demanding than going to your work where you know what you are expected to do. Thinking new is hard work, and they do it all day. Therefore, they must economize with their brain capacity and energy. It is our job to design environments that help students think about the right things. To think about their task when they are working on it - and to not think about schoolwork when they have a break. That must be very clear in the physical learning environment. In my opinion, the open schools have blurred the boundaries, because there is only one large room. Where do I get my brain-break and recovery, when needed?

ADAPTED ENVIRONMENT

– I like the idea of ​​home classrooms, Valsö continues, where the pupil knows that “this is my room, my staff and my safety at school”. In such an environment it is ideal with large spaces, so that we have the opportunity to take physical breaks, if you have long work sessions. For that, we need adapted lighting and ventilation, so that it is not just calculated for school work.

In Valsö’s and Malmgren’s book, they strongly emphasise the need of adapting the classroom elements for the teaching. Maybe especially for younger pupils, that have the same classroom for school and recreational work, where another type of lighting and furnishing might be required. The physical environment can easily signal different things if we adjust it. Lighting is the absolute simplest tool to quickly signal that we are now changing tasks.

– It's the same as when they dim up the lights at closing time at the restaurant, says Valsö. And the same thing at home, where we have different lighting if we are tidying the floor or having a cozy dinner with the family.

A SCHOOL FOR EVERYONE

Current research shows that those who suffer most badly by, for example poor lighting, acoustics, room design, unthoughtful furnishing or ventilation - are the already struggling students. Those with neuropsychiatric functional variations, pupils taught in their second language or pupils with visual and hearing impairments. But, if we make design changes based on the knowledge of our learning processes, they are also the group it will have most effect on.

– If we create well-planned physical learning environments, we increase the equality and give more students good chances to succeed with their education, says Valsö. There are undoubtably some problems with the modern learning environments of today. And it is not that strange. Our society is in an intensive period of development, with the transition to digitalisation. And it goes fast. Ten years ago I had no smartphone, now I live with it in my hand. It's no wonder we have made wrong assumptions, but we need to start making the right decisions.

THIS IS WHAT A GOOD PHYSICAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT CAN LOOK LIKE:

• Minimal distractions create work peace and increase concentration.
• No visual noise.
• No glass doors/walls or windows to other rooms or to an outdoor environment with much movement.
• Good acoustics, so all students can hear what the teacher says.
• Good ventilation, class sizes matched with the room's ventilation capacity.
• Good general lighting with LED. Also recommends dimmers that adjust both
• brightness and color temperature.
• Clearly defined learning environments and clear group affiliation.
• Think about calm and tranquility in color choices and decoration; choose single color and avoid pattern.
• Space for movement breaks in the classroom.
• Among other things, these are some of the adjustments one can make. 

SOURCE: "Physical learning environment: optimizing for security, work peace and learning", Valsö/Malmgren (2019)