The Classroom Setting

Go into a typical classroom. What do you see? Seats in neat rows facing the front of the room where the instructor stands. What are the assumptions that underlie this arrangement? What does the room say? What the room setup communicates is that the teacher is the important person in the room. Everyone else is there to benefit from the knowledge and experience of the instructor. The students come with empty brains to be filled by the overflow of knowledge from the teacher’s superior mind. Teachers give. Students receive. This puts students in a passive stance.

The common classroom arrangement is based on a mechanistic model. Rows of students are to be taught assembly line fashion. Efficiency is paramount. One instructor can expose large numbers of students at one time to course material.

The problem is that people are organisms not machines. Learning is an organic process. It emerges out of the interaction of learners with the subject of focus. Learning is not a predictable, manageable event. Learning usually comes as a surprise. The AHA! may come as a flash or as a slow realization.

How would an organic classroom be arranged? I envision a space that can be quickly reconfigured to match the learning needs of the moment. Chairs can be moved to form a large circle. Seating can be rearranged to form space for small group work. There is adequate space to allow for movement and kinesthetic learning exercises. The number of students in the class is small enough to allow for everyone to sit in a circle for large group discussions. There is enough room for individuals to get away from the group to take time to reflect or to work on individual projects. Everyone shares in the roles of teacher and learner. I envision the factory classroom giving way to a laboratory of learning.