“We shape our buildings; thereafter they shape us.” - Winston Churchill
How we set up our Learning Environments certainly impacts our behavior. As the photo and quote below show, what we do naturally as individuals is certainly influenced by the tools we are given. By having a collaborative table, it invites collaboration. By having an individual desk, it suggests working alone. Given we are all different personalities, and our needs are satisfied in different ways, choice is important for inclusion. By changing the tables and desks in any given environment, this will immediately result in changing the behaviour of individuals, often the pedagogical practices, as well as the dynamics of the room.
We need to be cognizant of the fact that depending on the task at hand, we tend to learn in different ways. During certain tasks some individuals will learn best collaboratively, while others will learn best doing the same task individually. This can also change for the same learner in different subjects. For instance, you may have a very outgoing person, who you think would like to work in a group, but actually finds themselves wanting to work alone say in Math, yet work in a group in English, or vice versa. We have found that when students are given choice and understand that furniture is a tool to use for learning they naturally self-regulate, thus giving more teaching and learning time in any given class.
To learn how to create an environment which positively impacts students behaviour, please email us at info@accentenvironments.com or call 1-800-665-9378 to speak with on of our learning environments specialists.
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