Well, its been over 7 weeks since I made the change to my learning space from traditional rows into group hubs and the world has not caved in. If you are reading this post without having read the original I suggest you read it first for context:
Changing a Learning Space
There have been minor alterations to the space, done by the students with myself allowing them and I have surveyed one of the classes I teach in the room.
First to the minor changes. The two groups of the three tables at the back of the room have been changed to a traditional row.
Changing a Learning Space
There have been minor alterations to the space, done by the students with myself allowing them and I have surveyed one of the classes I teach in the room.
First to the minor changes. The two groups of the three tables at the back of the room have been changed to a traditional row.
very interesting responses from this year 9 class. 28 responded, with one student away. First they were asked which set up they preferred and it can be seen there is a clear preference to the group mode.
I also asked the students what they thought about different styles of teaching and learning and how appropriate the old traditional row based seating versus the group based seating was. Below is a snapshot of the results. As can be seen from the results below the students have realised the benefits of the new group seating structure when it comes to group based activities like Collaborating with Google Apps or doing hexagonal thinking but also appreciate the limitations when needing to focus at the front of the room when watching a video or writing notes.
I have attempted to change my pedagogy to be more group based and less teacher centred but this is not always the case and there has not been as much of a change as I have hoped. This is indicated in the result below
The question was “The new table and chair setting has resulted in the teacher teaching in a different way.
The question was “The new table and chair setting has resulted in the teacher teaching in a different way.
Below are the verbal responses students made
One last comment I'd like to make. Why didn't i do this sooner?