Understanding educational spaces and how students learn in these spaces is vital to the overall improvement of the Education sector. Requirements for those with disabilities or learning difficulties are also now an important factor into how schools or educational environments are designed. In Dundee the Education Department of Dundee City Council along with the Public-Private Partnership (PPP) have enabled the council to build six new primary schools and two new secondary schools whilst also redeveloping others throughout the city. These schools have been carefully designed to give students a more comfortable and enjoyable learning experience than they were used to. Is there any way in which more improvements can be made in this area, in particular for people with a learning difficulty such as Autism? What previous research would benefit this topic and what new research can help to develop a better understanding of what is required to improve the standard of educational spaces?
For any Designer, one of the most important issues to consider when designing is how the design is experienced. Whether it is a piece of Jewellery, a new piece of technology or an interior space, how people experience and interpret these design are of great relevance. Reviewing my earlier work, Design in Education: Understanding space and students, I can further analyse the positive and negative aspects of the research found at that time. This in turn would also enable me to introduce other research methods that may benefit my research.
Observing people in situ helps in understanding how people interact and behave within a space. It would allow the observation of positive and negative behaviour, not only socially but also positive and negative interactions with space. How people manipulate and use furniture or possessions can be analysed and used along with other forms of research to develop an enhanced learning space. Observing how students physically respond to a space would be advantageous to my research as it would give me a direct understanding of how people move, work and use the space. As an observer it is important to realise that the undertaken observation is for the purpose of determining a singular child or student’s behaviour. Observation of groups would be slightly different in such a way that people interact differently both socially and physically, depending on who is present. I would suggest not only observing once but rather over a series of different times and dates as to gain a better appreciation of a behaviour.
The interviewing process would give varied responses and results, depending on who was interviewed. Rather than purely interviewing the child or student I would find it essential to also interview the teacher or tutor and if possible someone such as a parent or guardian who looks after the child at home. Information from each of these people could prove valuable as each would help in piecing together an overall picture of the student’s development. A teacher or tutor whilst educating also observes each child carefully and monitors any areas in which they feel a child may need particular help in. Teachers may also know how to adapt lessons and tuition to cater for individuals. They may know what help either directly or indirectly is needed to aid in the improvement of a child’s education. For children with Autism or others with learning difficulties, teachers may know what is best to give these students an improved learning experience. Parents or Guardians will give an account based on how their child behaves and interacts at home. Although I am looking primarily at educational spaces there may be crossovers from the classroom into the home. There may also be instances where a child responds well to something at home and that could be worth trying in the classroom. Parents will also be able to inform me of how they see their child progressing, along with being able to talk about their child and how they feel he/she responds to certain school activities and spaces. Although a child’s answers to being interviewed would probably be quite honest, they could also be tarnished with a dislike for school or affected by their overall feelings on the day of interviewing. I would still think it would be important to interview the student as they may be able to instruct me as to things that the feel positively or negatively towards. In particular when dealing with children with specific needs I would find it highly important to interview teachers, parents and others that are in direct contact with the student.
There are various other research methods that could be used in aiding my research such as Visual Image based research, this research includes interpreting the response an individual has to particular images. These responses, as I have tested myself, can be slightly tweaked to manipulate the viewers’ response. In turn it is may be noted that different people may begin to “see” the same message. This is also a method commonly chosen by the retail and advertising industry to promote products and article for sale. Although this research is interesting, I firmly believe that this topic would benefit more from direct observation and communication. Visual based research could prove problematic as children in particular are exceptionally imaginative and therefore the results from these tests may not be of much relevance.
John and Frances Sorrell’s approach of their project joinedupdesignforschools is about giving pupils the opportunity to design, improve and influence what their educational space becomes. I feel that this approach in itself is successful, as the pupils become more involved and inspired, it also gives them motivation and a sense of belonging. All of these attributes can only be a positive thing for the educational environments.
Using and analysing all of the advantageous research such as observation, interviewing and the initial reading of past research and studies would enable a thorough understanding of the educational sector. It is important when conducting this research to consider; current environment, age of pupils, social influences, educational support and also be aware of the developments that can or cannot be made. Although this research would allow development into the spaces that are provided for education, it is important to note that continual development and research is essential. Education is always developing therefore research from one source and time may not be relevant a couple of years later. Also post development analysis would highlight areas that still need improvement and also developments that are successful.
Bibliography
Montgomery, T, 2008, Space Matters: Experiences of managing static formal leaarning spaces, SAGE
Pellegrini, A, 1996, Observing Children in Their Natural Worlds: A Methodological Primer, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates
Sorrell, F. Sorrell, J,. 2005, Joinedupdesignforschools, Hugh Merrell
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