Schools as social complexes. How space affords self-directed learning

Fouad, Ahmed Zaky; Sailer, Kerstin

Abstract

Buildings are social entities. They channel and distribute movement flows and structure who we encounter where and when. Architects can shape how sociable a building might become in use through its spatial layout and its power to bring people together or keep people apart.2 Following this line of reasoning proposed by Bill Hillier and Julienne Hanson in the 1980s as the theory of space syntax, we might expect that the spatial layout itself orchestrates the occurrence, frequency and distribution of activities in space, at least for times outside of the structured curriculum imposed on students.

Learning as an activity can be differentiated into two types: firstly, there are teacher-directed activities, mostly occurring during class-time according to tasks and structures driven by the teachers, such as attending lectures and doing tests. Secondly, there are further individual and collaborative student self-directed activities, initiated by the students outside class-time and cultivating the concept of constructivist social learning.3 These are examples of informal learning practices inside a school with less control from the teachers and more room for student self-motivation, self-regulation and self-assessment. This could possibly include independent reading, revising, solving problems or just interacting with peers. Self-directed learning requires a degree of autonomy for students to choose their activity type, level of concentration and privacy, grouping, seating layout and posture, thus, allowing for the spatial design of learning spaces to influence the student-chosen activities.

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 1, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Jan 31, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Mar 2, 2023
• Journal: ARCH+
• Electronic ISSN: 0587-3452
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 1
• Issue: 249
• Article Number: C1 - 6886
• Pages: 32-35
• Series Title: Learning Spaces
• Keywords: Learning Spaces, School Buildings, Open-plan Design
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/10360226
• Publisher URL: https://archplus.net/de/archiv/ausgabe/249/
• Related Public URLs: https://archplus.net/
• Additional Information: ISBN: 9783931435721