Page 16 - College Planning & Management, October 2018
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Everything I Learned About Learning in Kindergarten
1970s related to adult or pre-adult learners. Studies through- out the 1980s stated that active learning must involve higher- order thinking, including analysis, synthesis, and evaluation. (See the excellent compilation of these studies as presented by Bonwell and Eison in Active Learning: Creating Excitement in the Classroom.) While lecturing has still been shown as some- times superior for content transmission, it is not as beneficial for building thinking and writing skills.
Faculty have been encouraged to find ways to break lec- tures down by including pauses—demonstrations, watching videos with no notes, taking a break to make notes, even working briefly in groups. However, current classroom and learning environment designs do not follow suit.
Lecture halls make group interactions difficult and em- phasize the passivity of the learner. When instructors move about (as they do in the kindergarten classroom), they can engage more directly with students and they can read un- derstanding (or lack thereof) in the students’ faces. Students may be more likely to engage in a format with direct teacher contact, rather than raising their hand in a sea of hundreds. Explaining something they understand to others in a small group provides another layer of reinforcement and empha- sizes peer-to-peer learning.
Even within subjects as dependent on intensive knowl- edge acquisition such as Physics, studies have shown that active learning techniques and their correspondingly differ- ent classroom designs contribute to deep learning. The Pres- ident’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology’s first recommendation of their 2012 report was as follows: “Cata- lyze widespread adoption of empirically validated teaching practices.”
Active Learning
Learning theory, empirical evidence about how people learn, and assessment of outcomes in STEM classrooms all point to a need to improve teaching methods to enhance learning and student persistence. Classroom approaches
that engage students in “active learning” improve retention of information and critical thinking skills, compared with a sole reliance on lecturing, and increase persistence of stu- dents in STEM majors.
Learning in a university setting does not occur solely in a lecture hall or classroom. With widespread inclusion of technology and high-speed WiFi, everywhere is a learning space. Learners set the pace, working where and how they wish. How can our learning environments best support this self-direction?
Let’s go back to that kindergarten environment for a mo- ment...
Kindergarten students can sit in a quiet corner and read; work at a table with a small group of friends; gather around a screen with headphones; and then quickly shift their attention to the teacher who moves among them. Close your eyes for a moment and you can see these same types of activities in a flexible uni- versity classroom with breakout areas in the adjacent corridor, or within a university library and common areas of residence halls. Creating spaces that facilitate varied learning modalities and support active learning throughout the campus is key.
Our firm is working with Boston University (BU) on a va- riety of projects that create conditions for the learner to flourish. These include the renovation of a major floor of Ki- lachand Hall, home to the Honors College, to provide group and individual study and instruction areas. From placing a seminar room within a study/social area, to group study rooms openable to a flexible “sandbox” equipped with moveable furniture and writable surfaces, many modes of learning are supported. The Honors College director wanted to insure students could be both “in their heads,” thinking deeply, and yet be with other students. Why? Because work- ing with others is key to solving today’s problems.
The Learning Resource Center for BU’s Medical Campus will enable quiet, heads-down thinking with large carrels that shield the learner from distractions, or “pods” that enable a feet-up, kick-back approach. Also provided are spaces for small group meetings and napping—yes, napping! Everyone needs to recharge to flourish.
As designers for higher education we must create spaces that facilitate deep thinking, encourage critical problem solv- ing, and engage learners to solve society’s most urgent chal- lenges. Doing so requires returning to principles for early child- hood education: fostering wonder and engagement so that students learn to love learning. Let’s get back to what works, evenifitmeansweneedtogobacktokindergarten. CPM
Rebecca Berry, AIA, LEED-AP BD+C, is president and principal at Finegold Alexander Architects (http://faainc.com). She leads the firm’s higher education and municipal practice areas.
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