Session Information
13 SES 06 A, Classroom Pedagogy
Paper Session
Contribution
Schools’ architect, Prakash Nair (2011), proposed that the classroom is obsolete. Nair provided a “universal list of education design principles for tomorrow’s schools…: (1) personalized; (2) safe and secure; (3) inquiry-based; (4) student-directed; (5) collaborative; (6) interdisciplinary; (7) rigorous and hands-on; (8) embodying a culture of excellence and high expectations; (9) environmentally conscious; (10) offering strong connections to the local community and business; (11) globally networked; and (12) setting the stage for lifelong learning” (Nair, 2011, p. 2). The standard, formal or traditional single-cell classroom should be substituted with the modern learning environment (MLE) (2011).
The MLE, as articulated by Nair, is an instance of what Henri Lefebvre termed, ‘the representations of space’. This is “conceptualized space, the space of scientists, planners, urbanists, technocratic subdividers and social engineers…all of whom identify what is lived and what is perceived with what is conceived” (1991, p. 38). Lefebvre thus identified linearity between conceived space and the activities that space may produce. Thus, an important question is whether these spaces facilitate the development of 21st-century learning, including critical thinking and problem solving; collaboration and leadership; agility and adaptability; initiative and entrepreneurialism; effective oral and written communication; accessing and analysing information; and curiosity and imagination (Wagner, 2008, cited in Saavedra & Opfer, 2012, p. 8). Some of these characteristics are captured in Nair’s list of design principles.
A further dimension is ‘representational spaces’, and Lefebvre noted that space so understood will “tend towards more or less coherent systems of non-verbal symbols and signs” (p. 39). This is space as lived experience, with the emphasis being on what the space ‘tells’ its users through its images and symbols. Thus, in this sense, it can be suggested the MLE has its own ‘hidden curriculum’. What messages are being communicated by, through and about the MLE space?
This question leads to what Lefebvre has termed, ‘spatial practice’, the ideology of space, articulated through the discourse of society. Lefebvre says society ‘secretes’ this ideology (the spatial practice) slowly and dialectically; that is to say, there is a steady proposition of the practice, mastery of it by members of society, and the society as a whole. The “spatial practice of a society is revealed through the deciphering of its space” (p. 38), thus we may ask critical questions concerning the particular purpose of space, by examining why that space exists and why is takes the form it does.
Nair’s (2011) design principles embody the ‘21st-century worker, the self-directed, ‘critical thinker’ and collaborator who can work in a globally connected technologically rich environment. The single-cell classroom is ‘obsolete’ precisely because is does not emulate the 21st-century workplace, whereas the MLE does. Lefebvre saw a critical link between the spaces of our daily reality and the production of the particular social form and relations envisaged by the dominant society. As Chapman, Randell-Moon, Campbell, & Drew (2014) indicated, we must ask critical questions “regarding the ways in which schools and classrooms restructure education to actively constitute production and governance in the knowledge society” (p. 46).
In this presentation, the possible obsolescence of the traditional classroom is considered by evaluating two case study MLE primary schools in Auckland, New Zealand. The evaluation considers some of Nair’s principles, namely, personalisation, inquiry, student direction or agency, collaborative practices, interdisciplinarity, rigour, culture of excellence, global networking and preparation for lifelong learning. As both schools (like other similar examples in New Zealand) are engaging with MLE only in recent times, an important research question concerns the various forms of transition at play in these two schools as they move from traditional to modern practices and spaces.
Method
Expected Outcomes
References
Ary, D., Jacobs, L., Razavieh, A., & Sorensen, C. (2006). Introduction to research in education (7th ed.). Belmont, CA: Thomson Wadsworth. Berg, B. (2007). Qualitative research methods for the social sciences (5th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education. Bohman, J. (2005). Critical theory. Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy [PDF version]. Retrieved from http://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2013/entries/critical-theory Chapman, A., Randell-Moon, H., Campbell, M. & Drew, C. (2014). Students in space: Student practices in non-traditional classrooms. Global Studies of Childhood 4(1), 39–48. doi: 10.2304/gsch.2014.4.1.39 Cleveland, B. & Fisher, K. (2014). The evaluation of physical learning environments: a critical review of the literature. Learning Environments Research 4(17)1, 1–28 doi:10.1007/s10984-013-9149-3. Frankham, J. & MacRae, C. (2011). Ethnography. In B. Somekh & C. Lewin (Eds.), Theory and methods in social research (2nd ed.) (pp. 34–42). Los Angeles, CA: SAGE. Lefevbre, H. (1991). The production of space. (D. Nicholson-Smith, trans). Oxford, United Kingdom: Basil Blackwell. Ministry of Education [MOE]. (2014a). Modern learning environments. Retrieved 30 January, 2015 from http://www.mle.education.govt.nz. Ministry of Education [MOE]. (2014b). Modern learning environment examples. Retrieved January 28, 2015, from http://www.minedu.govt.nz/NZEducation/EducationPolicies/Schools/PropertyToolBox/StateSchools/Design/ModernLearningEnvironment/MLEEgs.aspx Nair, P. (2011). The classroom is obsolete: It's time for something new. Education Week. Retrieved from http://www.fieldingnair.com/index.php/publications/ New Zealand Post Primary Teachers Association (PPTA). (2014). Group learning by teachers for teachers. Retrieved January 30, 2015 from http://www.ppta.org.nz/professional-learning/2915-learning-by-%20teachers-for-teachers Roberge, J. (2011). What is critical hermeneutics? Thesis Eleven. 106(1), 5–22 doi: 10.1177/0725513611411682 Saavedra, A. & Opfer, D. (2012). Learning 21st-century skills requires, 21st-century teaching. Phi Delta Kappan, 94(2), 8–13.
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