Classroom environments play a significant role in the day to day lives of children attending school. Within socio-material theory (Edwards, Fenwick, & Sawchuk, 2015), furniture, digital devices, physical conditions and classroom design can be considered material aspects of the environment, which interact with social elements. The design and use of classroom spaces evolves over time and across contexts reflecting resources available, beliefs, and educational policies. In the early 1900s school desks with attached seating were fixed to the floor in rectangular shaped classrooms, desks that could be moved were considered to be a cause of disorder (Le Garde, 1911). The beliefs about the role of education at the time included developing obedience, orderly behaviour and self-discipline. It was a time when information about the world was restricted to written or oral formats which in the schooling context was through textbooks, wall charts and the knowledge of the teacher. This was reflected in European learning environments, classroom furniture was fixed facing the same direction for order and control and enabled children to focus on the teacher at the front of the classroom (Herman, Van Gorp, Simon, & Depaepe, 2011).

One hundred years later the introduction of ICT supported education has enabled greater access to information and learning resources and different beliefs about teaching, learning and classroom design have emerged. Influenced by the OECD, a current international trend is the introduction of modern, innovative or flexible learning environments (OECD, 2013, 2015). In New Zealand classrooms have been built with large learning spaces and small breakout rooms or walls are removed between existing classrooms to enable combined classes taught by collaborating teachers. The large open plan spaces have fewer desks than children and different types of furniture such as bean bags, tables, cushions and sofas which are not allocated to specific students or teachers. This reflects a significant change in beliefs, policies and resources since the start of the 1900s underpinned by societal change such as neo-liberal policies and access to information broadening from texts to digitised resources and interactive technologies (Starkey, 2012). Rather than a focus on order and control, flexible learning environments are designed for ICT supported education with the belief that teachers should focus on the students as individuals and their learning needs (OECD, 2013). Within this context it is expected that children develop autonomy to manage their learning in the flexible space (Saltmarsh, Chapman, Campbell, & Drew, 2015).   

The dynamic interactions between the socio-material elements such as the environment and social aspects of a classroom can provide insight into learning environments (Daniels, Tse, Stables, & Cox, 2018). A cross-discipline research team with expertise from Education, Architecture and Computer Science is examining the research question: How do socio-material aspects of a learning environment influence the learning experience of children. This presentation reports results from the first case study within this research. The context of the study was a flexible learning environment in New Zealand of 90 students and three teachers. The children are aged 9-11 and use a mixture of internet connected devices and traditional materials for learning. The learning environment has a range of furniture including window seats, bean bags, cushions, ottomans, whiteboard tables at differing heights and 25 traditional desks with chairs.

Case study methodology was applied to the research with multiple data sources gathered over one week at the end of November 2018. A group of students within the learning environment were provided with wearable devices which enabled the capture of location data triangulated using the Internet of Things technology. The children were also asked to indicate their levels of engagement in learning on a three-point scale through the devices. Eleven sensors were placed around the learning environment to track the physical conditions including; light (lux), CO₂, noise, humidity and temperature levels. While this digital data was being collected a researcher observed events within the classroom including the learning activities and how children were using the furniture and learning tools. This was recorded in narrative form and as notations on a timestamped plan of the space. The observational data provided contextual information and a reliability check for the digital data. These data are being combined into a time sequenced data visualisation to enable analysis across socio-material elements. Further data were collected to investigate perspectives from the users of the environment. A purposively selected group of six children participated in a focus group interview to discuss their experience of the environment and a larger group of 20 children completed a reflection using google forms. Questions explored preferences of spaces for concentration, creativity, collaboration and comfort, and factors that influenced the choices made. In addition, the three teachers were interviewed about their practice and experiences.

The three teachers in the case study worked collaboratively to construct a weekly timetable of learning activities across each week. Within scheduled activities each teacher had a different teaching role, one may be teaching a small group of students, another may be working with individual students and a third may be leading a larger group activity. At any given time students were working independently, with other students or participating in a teacher led activity. Each student had a dedicated laptop although this was not used for all activities. The scheduled timetable and expectations of what students should be doing were online and displayed on screens in the learning environments. Within this context, students demonstrated autonomy, making choices about their interactions with the socio-material elements of the learning environment. The data visualisation outcome will be shared in this presentation. This illustrates the time sequenced movement of children and teachers within a two-dimensional plan of the space overlaid with environmental, engagement and observational data. The patterns illustrated in the visualisation and perception data will be discussed in terms of interactions between the socio-material aspects of the environment and the influence that these interactions had on children’s experiences of learning in a student-centred, ICT supported flexible learning environment. The findings of this research will have implications for those designing and using learning environments.

Daniels, H., Tse, H. M., Stables, A., & Cox, S. (2018). Design as a social practice: the experience of new-build schools. Cambridge Journal of Education, 1-19. doi:10.1080/0305764X.2018.1503643 Edwards, R., Fenwick, T., & Sawchuk, P. (2015). Emerging approaches to educational research: Tracing the socio-material. London: Routledge. Herman, F., Van Gorp, A., Simon, F., & Depaepe, M. (2011). The school desk: from concept to object. History of Education, 40(1), 97. Le Garde, E. (1911). Proper school furniture for the child. Journal of Education, 74(1), 11-13. OECD. (2013). Innovative Learning Environments. Paris:OECD OECD. (2015). Schooling redesigned: Towards innovative learning systems. Paris:OECD Saltmarsh, S., Chapman, A., Campbell, M., & Drew, C. (2015). Putting “structure within the space”: spatially un/responsive pedagogic practices in open-plan learning environments. Educational Review, 67(3), 315-327. doi:10.1080/00131911.2014.924482 Starkey, L. (2012). Teaching and learning in the digital age. London: Routledge.