DESIGNING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS.

Considerations when designing for learning environments

Learning environments are affected by a myriad of factors, from the social aspect to its physical environment. When beginning to design a place for learning, we need to consider the demographic of teaching and learning. Firstly, considering which level of institution we are designing for as a tertiary level education would differ to a secondary's school.

1. Pedagogy: Every model of teaching has its own policy to adhere to, hence a different environment would be needed to facilitate different pedagogies.

2. Subject: Every subject has a requirement for a learning space, although, some are more specific than the others hence a more specific 'space' is needed. (An artist studio would be set in softer lighting situations whilst a reading/teaching space would prefer brighter lights.)

3. Population: teaching dynamic changes with the different amount of students. Additionally, there's the need for a larger space if required to cater to a large audience.

After deciding on the program and selected pedagogy, the more formal aspects to consider are:

1. Light/Atmosphere and ambience

2. Facility

3. Furnishing

4. Engagement with surroundings (Isolated? Connected?)

5. Thermal Comfort

Considerations for designing a learning environment.

Points to consider for in order to design for a learning environment includes A) The demographic (Is it a place for higher learning? Primary/Secondary Education?) Each individual model has its own policy to adhere to: Eg. In primary/secondary schools, it is the teacher's job and hence their responsibility to educate the students. Whereas tertiary institutes facilitates a student's learning, and learning then becomes one's own responsibility.

Why?

If the secondary school’s policy is to enforce/ encourage a learning environment then the corresponding classrooms will be designed in a way that a submits to those ideals. A strict learning model will encourage a disciplined environment; Eg. Westlake, my highschool which really valued a regulated learning environment and thus enforced a whole list of rules that includes preventing us from entering classrooms outside of class times. This meant that the classrooms wouldn’t have to be as flexible to facilitate a variety of activity, rather, one that is competent or excels in its function. The focus for designing that space then shifts from flexibility to one that is efficient. On the contrary, my primary school in Malaysia who also valued the same principals functioned conversely. Instead of having specialised zones for teaching different subjects, all classes are held in one singular space. The learning environment then transforms depending on the pedagogy that the teacher employs. It is interesting to note that in this model, the classroom belonged to the students. Since the students are always occupying the space, it would be in their best interest and hence the responsibility falls onto them to look after that space. Each student would have their own storage space under their desks and that allowed them to organise their own workstations. Whereas, in Westlake the teacher controls the classroom and enforces a permanent organisation of space depending on their preferred pedagogy. However, the general organisation and layout of both cases are more or less the same. In my experience, the classroom dynamic of the student occupied space felt more homely and eases on the learning experience. Whereas, travelling to different buildings and classes was quite tiring and uncomfortable especially on rainy days. Since there were no shelters between buildings, the experience of wet socks and damp clothes was quite distracting and unpleasant.

INTERESTING LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS:

Bus tour studies (AA Bus tour study)

Additional aspects to consider when designing for a learning environment.

- Acoustical concerns

A room that has constant reverberation would make it quite distracting as a place to learn in. In my experience working on a construction site, the uninsulated concrete rooms made it quite difficult to hear and understand what the other people were talking about. Without insulation, it also meant that noise can penetrate through from the outside, making the place a very unpractical space for learning. In lecture theatres, designers are looking to control the noise reflections to ensure that the necessary noise reaches the student's ears while also reducing the unnecessary noises. The fan shaped lecture hall is the most optimal in reflecting the sound waves, but with technology, designs can be altered accordingly.

Lighting condition, a space too dark might create a perfect condition for napping, a space too bright would create a space too distracting and blinding. Jumping to the next point, thermal comfort is an important point to consider for when designing a learning space. If a place is too hot and we start to sweat profusely, excess energy would be wasted on cooling the body and our minds would be detracted from the learning. Likewise, if a place is to cold, we would start to feel tired as body body expends energy warming the body up. We should look to create a thermal condition that satisfy our thermal comfort so that we can expend the energy for something productive.

Interestingly, the spatial conditions i would design for a kindergarten would be different to that of other learning environments. Since kids are quite active and like to roam about, I would create an open space that may potentially extend to the outdoors.

Exercise directly improve's your child's capacity to learn:

Regular, sweaty exercise helps us think better by stimulating new brain cell growth, increasing connections between cells, and improving attention. ... An hour of vigorous exercise per day will allow your children to focus better in school and while studying.

As such, creating opportunities for kids to exercise might stimulate their brain for learning, making the place a healthier learning environment.

Going off tangent, writing about learning has come to remind me of the left brain, right brain theory introduced by my art teacher. The right brain processes information through an intuitive process whilst the left processes through an analytical state. My art teacher always encouraged drawing as an exercise to exercise both parts of the brain, as we draw, the right part of the brain visualises the final image whilst the left brain works constantly to access the process of the drawings.

This reminded me that a learning environment is dominated not only by the physical environment, but the content and exercises that we learn through.

Read more here - https://www.liveabout.com/right-brain-left-brain-theory-art-2579156