INVESTIGATING AND REDESIGNING THE CLASSROOM
Goals
Research Skills
This unit introduces teachers to methods for enabling children to look critically at their daily use of classroom space. Children will learn the skills of mapping, observation, recording of observations, and analysis and interpretation of data.
Discovering the Value of Community Research
This project will demonstrate to the students that:
- People organize themselves, their things, and their spaces.
- The design of space is crucial for the smooth functioning of life.
- Communities can change their organization according to needs.
- Changes to spatial arrangements can help a community improve how it functions.
Examining classroom space entails examining the structure of authority represented in the existing classroom space. Most traditional classrooms are physically designed to be 'teacher-centered.' This type of design gives authority to the teacher and discourages group work. The kind of spatial analysis described here can help children see how reorganization can help people work better together. It's also an excellent method for improving children's understanding of their own behavior and the behavior of others. For this reason it is also useful in improving children's abilities to resolve conflicts.
Students will proceed through a series of activities that will enable them to suggest ways of redesigning the classroom space. If the data is reliably collected at different times of the day and week it can also be used to help the teacher rethink the planning of the classroom timetable and the rhythm of the day.
Procedures
Step 1: Creating a Floor plan of the Classroom
- Construct a floor plan of the area with the students (see figure 7).
- Make reduced copies of the floor plan for recording the data (e.g. 8 " x 11") - see Unit Four on how children can change the scale of a map.
- Keep a large copy of the master floor plan on the wall.
- Consider making different copies of this master floor plan for different classroom situations such as "Group Work" or "Performances". You can experiment with different furniture layouts for these different kinds of events.
Step 2: Establish a Reference System
The best kind of reference system to use for recording locations on the map is a grid. Some classrooms have tile floors that can be used, as in Figure 7. Alternatively, a grid can be draw on the floor with chalk. If this is not possible, zones can be drawn on a base map that are keyed to "landmarks" in the classroom such as the "science zone" or the "coat rack zone" etc.
Step 3: Observing and Recording Behavior in the Classroom
There are at least two possible ways of setting up a system for observing children's use of the classroom. One is for each child to take responsibility for observing a different kind of behavior during the course of normal classroom activities and to keep a record of these on their map. Another is for pairs of students to take turns in the observation of all behaviors from a location with a good vantage point such as a raised platform on one side of the classroom. Whichever of these strategies is used, the research should continue over the course of enough days to be able to capture different kinds of typical classroom events, such as quiet individual work time, teaching to the whole class, group work, performances and so on.
Example One: The Recording of Everyday Activities
A map of the most common locations of everyday activities in the classroom is the kind of basic information that is needed for the sensible redesign of a classroom. Figure 7 shows a plan and a form for recording such behaviors. This plan is designed to record all of the behaviors that occur at one time in the classroom.
Figures 7: (a) A classroom plan and (b) a sample observation form showing the locations of everyday activities.
- Brainstorm the kinds of information that need to be recorded.
- Create a key with the symbols that will be used to show these categories. In this case, symbols are needed to describe the different categories of people that will be using the classroom.
- Design a form (e.g. Figure 7b).
- Establish a systematic procedure for observation. It will take many minutes for children to observe and record all of the activities. It is therefore necessary for the observer(s) to establish a systematic procedure so that they do not record the same persons more than once. For example, if the observer is located at the entrance to the storage room he or she can first record the activities occurring in all of the grid squares of column one. When that is complete they can go on to record all of the behaviors in column two, and so on. If there is a second observer, they could locate themselves near the Science area and begin with column 15. They would also observe one column at a time until, together with the other observer, they complete the observations of all of the grid squares.
- For the first day the child observers can write down each of the activities that occur in their own words. But this is a time consuming process. Furthermore, they would need to later code these activities in order to see patterns of types of activities in their classroom.
- After one day of such free recording they should be able to develop a list of recording categories that include most of the different kinds of activities that they are likely to observe. Other pairs of children can then use this list of "coding categories". For example, for the period shown on this form they might use the codes "writing", "classroom display", "administrative assistance", "reading" and "talking".
- They can take turns, using these categories, over a week or two to record classroom activities on the forms.
- After each pair of observers finishes their observations they transfer the data they collect to the master floor plan of classroom behaviors.
Example Two: Recording Select Behaviors
- Brainstorm a list of behaviors conducted within a classroom (e.g. classroom discussions, asking/answering questions, giving speeches, taking notes, listening to the teacher, doing group work, writing, listening, raising hands/getting called on, etc.).
- Discuss with students which important activities are influenced by the spatial arrangement of the classroom, e.g. a student who raises his hand but is never called on by the teacher because she sits in the back of the room.
- Create a list of behaviors that are worthwhile recording. For example it might be concluded that one observer should focus on only recording conflicts between children. To record these they can write down the number and location of the conflict on the map. They can then write down on the form a list of these numbers with a description of the event and who was involved (see Figure 8b).
Figures 8: (a) A classroom plan and (b) a sample observation form showing the locations of conflicts.
- All of the class should meet after an hour or two of data has been collected to discuss any methodological problems that have arisen.
Step 3: Analyzing the Data
The data from each of the different teams of observers will quickly begin to reveal interesting patterns when it is mapped on to the master floor plan. Wait for a few days before you begin to have the children display their data in this way because they might be tempted to start changing their behavior playfully, to manipulate the findings. This is of course what you want because it means that they understand the process and the power of data. On the other hand, it is best that they first carefully observe their existing patterns of behavior.
Special versions of the floor plans can be produced by the children to show where certain behaviors most frequently occur. These might include a plan showing the greatest density of use. Another could show where arguments break out. Yet another might show the different degrees of talking in different parts of the classroom.
Children can also learn to make some simple bar charts of the data for different times of the day. These might be useful in helping to rethink the organization of the class timetable. Such charts can initially be made with the whole class observing the process on a large piece of paper on the wall. The children can then follow this format to produce numerous charts to show other phenomena.
Step 4: Reporting and Interpreting the Data
Meetings at the end of each school day enable the data to be reported and discussed. Issues that had previously been your responsibility as a teacher will now often be raised by children and discussed more collectively. For example, children might point out why noise occurs at certain times or why children get involved in arguments about the use of equipment. When you review discipline in these meetings your observing scientists will be quick to turn to their data sheets to say how certain conflicts began and how they were resolved! Through this kind of dialog children can become enthusiastic participants in both research and the possible improvements that might be made to the classroom.
Step 5: Planning Changes to the Classroom Space
- Review the data on the master floor plan with the whole class and make a list of the problems that children think the patterns of data suggest. For example, conflicts seem to arise mostly around the timing of who gets to feed the fish in the aquarium.
- For each of these problems, discuss suggestions for physical change of the classroom that might help resolve each of these problems. Make a list of these suggestions. You will need to point out to them that the resolution of one problem can make another one worse and so they will have to begin thinking more systemically about these problems.
- Add to this problem list children's suggestions for new opportunities and resources that need to be added to the classroom.
- Use another large-scale floor plan or, ideally, a model of the classroom. Make notes of suggested design changes (moving of furniture, reassigning functions to different locations, additions of new furnishings, etc). These suggestions should not be written in a permanent way because this should be an open and changing dialog. With the model, you can move the model furniture around and add pieces to show new suggested features. With the floor plan, you can use stick-on pieces of paper for this process.
- Some of the suggestions that the children make will not work in your mind because of issues of classroom management. But now, because they have been the observers of their own classroom community, they will have a greater capacity to understand some of the issues that you face as a teacher.
- Make a final version of the proposed design changes using the model of the classroom or the Master floor plan.
Step 6: Making Changes and Evaluation
- Move the furnishings and make other modifications as much as possible with the collaboration of the children.
- Make revised copies of the floor plans for the children to use in their observations.
- After making observations on a range of types of classroom events, children can then discuss which of the changes they have made are working and which are not. This can then lead to another minor redesign process, and so on.
Resources
Nelson, D. (1984). Transformations, Process and Theory: A Curriculum Guide to Creative Development. Santa Monica, California: Center for City Building Educational Programs.
Wentworth, D.F., Couchman, J.K., MacBean, J.C. & Stecher, A. (1972). Mapping Small Places: Examining Your Environment. Toronto, Ontario: Holt, Rinehart and Winston.
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