Abstract:

The concepts of future classrooms, multimedia labs or active learning space has recently gained prominency in educational research. Evidence-based research has found that well-designed primary school classrooms can boost students’ learning progress as much as 16% in a single year (Barrett, Zhang, Davies & Barrett, 2015). Also schools heads, teachers and students are requesting for more flexible, reconfigurable and modern classrooms’ layouts, where technology and active pedagogical practices can be incorporated into an easier way. Under the scope of the TEL@FTELab Project (Technology enhanced learning at Future Teacher Education Lab) of the Institute of Education of University of Lisbon, an empirical study was conducted with 46 elementary and secondary school teachers aiming to capture their vision of what the classrooms for the future should be. Data was collected through a focus-group methodology. Teachers were asked to form groups of 4-to-8 elements and challenged to built a 3D mockup of their future classroom by using a 1:20 scale kit provided by the researchers. The process of the classrooms construction was videotaped and content analysis of the mockups was conducted. This article will present the results of the data collected focusing specifically in the following aspects: spatial organization (different working areas identified by the teachers), physical elements (furniture and other equipment), environmental aspects (luminosity, temperature, sound, air quality) and human aspects (spatial positioning of teacher and students).

References:
[1] Barrett, P., Zhang, Y., Davies, F., Barrett, L. (2015). Clever Classrooms: summary report of the HEAD Project. Manchester: University of Salford. Retrieved from https://www.salford.ac.uk/cleverclassrooms/1503-Salford-Uni-Report-DIGITAL.pdf