Executive Perspective
Space as a Function of the Mind
By Daniel A. Domenech/School Administrator, October 2017


AS A GRADUATE student, I was exposed to behavioral psychology and Skinnerean conditioning. By the time I became a 6th-grade teacher, I was adept at techniques that resulted in excellent classroom management.

I understood the classroom environment itself could be structured to affect the behavior of the students occupying it. Chairs bolted down on the floor made for neat rows and equal separation, a wonderful arrangement if you wanted your students quietly facing the front of the classroom with little if any interaction.

I opted for chairs and desks that could be moved around. That is certainly the status quo today but not so when I started teaching in the early ’70s.

Learning Anywhere
While there was a time during the day when I did want their undivided attention, I understood that maintaining that behavior had a limited time span. My 6th graders were full of energy and they wanted desperately to spend it. My demand for their full attention was limited to short periods when I wanted to impart the same information to the entire class.

As they responded satisfactorily, I would increase the length of time so as to begin incorporating short stories and lectures. I would increase the time in short segments until I reached the point where it was evident that I was losing them.

Fast forward to the 21st century. Today’s American classrooms no longer resemble the anchored desks and chairs so common in the 1960s and ’70s. Although today’s teachers still lecture the class as a whole, much of the time the students are divided into smaller groups that independently work together while the teacher walks around providing sup-port and assistance as needed. The digital leap has allowed teachers to make great strides in the move to personalize learning for all students. Online programs and blended learning quickly are changing education as we have known it for decades. Broadband expansion and access to wireless technology are forcing us to recognize that learning can take place anywhere at any time.

The old Edifice Complex, the notion that learning can only take place in a classroom during school days and hours, has been negated by the realization that as long as students have wireless access, they can interact with teachers and fellow students and be the recipients of constructive instruction. Consequently, schools and classrooms as we have known them are undergoing dramatic transformations. 

An environment is created that supports and encourages students working independently and in small groups. Rather than the traditional chairs and desks, we now see loungers and beanbag chairs that allow for comfort while students work independently. Sections of the rooms are soundproofed so that small groups of students can interact and collaborate without disturbing the rest of the class.

Personal Pacing
In schools designed for personalized learning, traditional classrooms make way for larger rooms for group presentations, smaller rooms for collaborative interaction and cubicles for independent work. Students who now have assumed responsibility for their learning move about the school freely, searching for a specific resource or location relevant to the subject area they are studying.

With competency-based learning, students now can proceed at their own pace and as more states waive seat time requirements, their presence in the school building may not be required full time.

This has implications for future school building construction and for overcrowded schools today. Is there a need to accommodate every student enrolled in the building or just the estimated number who may be in the building at the same time? Will we shorten the number of hours that students are required to be in the school with the understanding that they will be engaged in learning outside the school? Will technology obviate inclement weather days because students will be learning from their homes even when schools are forced to close?

The custodial function of the school is still very much part of the culture, particularly at the elementary level where working parents most rely on the school to care for their children. Even at the secondary level, working parents may well resent any loss of supervision for their teenagers. Time away from the building is now filled by dual-enrollment programs at higher education campuses. Apprenticeship programs, during which high school students can spend part of their school day with the companies that are providing the work experience, are also providing the supervision that working parents feel comfortable with.

The possibilities are endless as we enter a time where, more than ever before, environments are created to best meet the needs of our students.
Daniel Domenech is AASA executive director. E-mail: ddomenech@aasa.org. Twitter: @AASADan