How does the use of space support the lesson?
Architects, interior decorators, and environmental engineers believe that the way things are arranged in space (including the space itself) makes a difference in how people function. These professionals make their living helping people to be happier and to function more efficiently through better use of the physical environment. Schools need to apply their insights to education for similar payoffs: increased satisfaction and productivity. This chapter explores ways in which teachers can make the most advantageous use of classroom and school space. There are two equally important but different ways of looking at teachers’ use of Space.
One is to look at the way arrangements of furniture, materials, and space sup- port the kind of instruction going on. What are the goals of the lesson? What kind of learning environment does it ask for? How does the use of space sup- port the lesson? Since lesson goals and lesson forms change, space arrange- ments can be expected to change also. Teachers can use a variety of space ar- rangements, and those arrangements can be rationally matched to the active form of instruction.
The second way of looking at Space focuses not on its varying uses but on how certain constant space-related issues of student life are handled: ownership and privacy. Different students have different needs in these areas, and there are ways that teachers can meet those individual needs. We look at Space in both of these ways.