Abstract:

Collaborative learning is considered very important in the 21st century educational. The collaborative learning provides opportunities for interactions and sharing ideas with one another, which has positive affects on students. Collaborative learning is believed to both improve social skills as well as overall learning. It also provides opportunities for students to learn while working with others and learn from others. These researchers wanted to investigate the current secondary education environments to understand how to design future classrooms that facilitate collaborative learning pedagogy. The first phase of this research included review of published literature and theories to expand knowledge of collaborative learning and how true collaboration could happen in educational environments. These researchers also studied the current designed environments for education through analysing existing schools. They also examined the current furniture and technology offerings for educational environments. The next phase of their research involved a process of gathering data through surveying students, observing existing classrooms of local high schools, and interviewing students and teachers. The analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data helped them in better understanding the current collaborative learning environments offered in the high schools, what the high school students want in their collaborative learning environments. Through the different methods of research conclusions were formed on how to improve the current secondary education environments for collaborative learning to be effective. and how collaborative learning can be incorporated in existing buildings. This research also helped these researchers in developing insights on how the current educational system would need to change to facilitate new teaching styles and allow for the future of classrooms to shift overall to allow for collaboration to take place to its fullest extent. In this paper these researchers will share their research methods and findings in detail so that other designers can also assist educators in developing better collaborative learning environments in the future.

Keywords:

Collaborative Learning, High School, Educational Environments, Innovation, Technology, Furniture, Teaching Methods.