Creating learning spaces with students for the third millennium

Abstract

INTRODUCTION. Increasing concern for creatingt he appropriate educational spaces for a variety of learning activities is taking place. Efforts to explain how interacting with built spaces affects our way of thinking, feeling, our actions and well-being started decades ago. This work addresses two fundamental queries. First, can school children, with the help of educators and technicians, allied with the findings of Neuroscience and other behavioural disciplines, design learning spaces without explicit prior knowledge? Second, are Project Based Learning methods adequate for Participative Action Research (PAR) methods? Can design thinking enrich the researchers’ actions, processes, and results? METHOD. We collected a lot of evidence - photographs, videos, interviews as well as both written and digital sources - and triangulated the data and processes using a structured method based on Participative Action Research processes. The sample comprised three working groups, two in Madrid and one in Barcelona, who worked for two years. Previously, work was done with Lampton School, London (England) and later work followed, as described, in a Public Institute at Thorning, Silkebor (Denmark). RESULTS. The teams were able to design, develop and find effective uses for the spaces based on learning tasks, preferences and needs. Excellent results were obtained during the process. Variables such as entrepreneurship, collaboration and shared knowledge management were also verified. DISCUSSION. Students’ achievements were analyzed and contrasted with hypotheses from Neuro-architecture and related sciences. Consistent correspondences in results were found. The impact of Project Based Learning on Participatory Action Research with design thinking was also studied.