TEN RECOMMENDATIONS FOR USING SPACE
The literature on the use of school space is sparse, and the research is even thin- ner. A series of interviews we conducted with teachers showed support for the following ten recommendations:
1. Materials students use should be visibly stored and accessible to facili- tate efficient getting out and putting away.
2. Avoid dead space—open, purposeless space which lends itself to ran- dom or unproductive student activity.
3. In some settings, for reasons of safety or control, it may be appropriate for space to be arranged so the teacher can see all of it, with no blind spots. In other settings, this guideline may be inconsistent with goals relating to trust, privacy, and independence.
4. Vertical space (walls, dividers, closets, and movable cabinet doors) should be employed productively—for example, for display, learning stations, or storage of materials—effectively increasing usable space in the classroom. Hanging artifacts or displays from the ceiling or mul-
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tilevel use of space in addition to the floor (lofts, for example, or other erected structures) can increase effective usable space within a room.
5. Dividers placed on a diagonal with respect to the ninety-degree orien- tation of the walls can channel student movement and visual fields in interesting and deliberate directions.
6. Have a display area where students’ work, art, and other kinds of prod- ucts can easily be seen and examined.
7. Keep active areas distant from quiet areas in a room to minimize dis- traction and interference.
8. Keep adjacent activity areas far enough apart, or clearly bounded from their immediate neighbor, so as to prevent distraction and interference.
9. Have clear traffic paths connecting functional areas of the room that do not necessitate students’ walking through one area (and disturbing things there) to get to another.
10. Empty furniture absorbs energy. Therefore, if you have fewer students than chairs in a secondary class, don’t let the students spread out around the periphery of the room with empty chairs between them and you. Either eliminate the empty chairs, or move the students forward where they can be in contact with you and with each other.
Overall, the message we get from reviewing the literature on space and class- rooms is to be deliberate about its use. Teachers can make instructional spaces more attractive, efficient, and flexible; in short, they can control and change these spaces to best support instruction in moving from lesson to lesson.
Video: Choreograph the Flow
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