The document discusses redesigning an elementary school classroom called The Elementary Studio to emphasize new ways of learning through interactive technologies, student-centered learning, and social spaces. The redesign allows for a variety of group sizes and well-defined activity spaces. It also reflects on assumptions of traditional education to shift to "inconvenient innovation" through cognitive dissonance. Design principles like priming, operant conditioning, affordances, accessibility, and feedback loops will be applied to the new classroom layout.

1. +
The Elementary Studio
Huda Hashim
“Innovative
classrooms
emphasize the
importance of
addressing new
ways of learning”

2. + The Problem

3. +
The Problem Cont.
 Horror Vacui: The desire to fill empty
spaces with information and objects.
 Accessibility: Objects and environments
should be designed to be usable by many.
 Affordance: Physical characteristics of an
object/environment influence its function.
 Flexibility: Open plan classrooms and
furniture allows for multiple uses.
 Focal Point: Objects or environments that
are the most attractive part in the room.
 Mental Model: Understand and interact
with systems based on mental rep. from
memory.
 Less is More: garbage in.. Garbage out.
 Depth of Processing: In learning,
information that is analyzed deeply is better
recalled
 Recognition over Recall: Memory for
recognizing things is better than recalling
things.
 Colour: Used to attract attention, group
elements and enhance aesthetic appeal.
 Wabi Sabi: Environments that embody
naturalness, simplicity and subtle
imperfection.
 Expectation Effect: Perception and
behavior changes as a result of
expectations
 Operant Conditioning: Modifying behavior
by reinforcing desired behavior. (vice versa)
 Priming: Activation of specific concepts in
memory to influence behaviours
 Feedback Loop: Environment affects
learning

4. +
Design so that there are no bad
seats in the classroom

5. +
The Redesign
 The Elementary Studio will emphasize the importance of addressing
new ways of learning through interactive communication
technologies, student -centered learning and the creation of social
spaces all in one classroom.
 This floor plan allows for a wide variety of group learning sizes as
possible. At the same time, each large group, small group, and/or
individual learning space should be an architecturally well-defined
„activity pocket‟ with all the furniture, equipment, storage and
resources necessary for that learning activity contained within.
Physical educational environments provide interaction, collaboration,
knowledge transfer and communication which are the vital elements
of the learning infrastructure. The use of virtual learning
environments is likely to increase in the future as the quality of the
visual environment improves and users increase their ability to create
content.
 Traditional education has been built on a number of assumptions that
have been practiced for decades. By reflecting on these assumptions
and engaging in cognitive dissonance, the educational system shifts
to “inconvenient innovation”.

6. +
The Redesign Cont.
 Priming: Activation of specific
concepts in memory to influence
behaviours.
 Cognitive dissonance: Inconvenient
innovation in education leads to
higher rates of success.
 Operant Conditioning: Modifying
behavior by reinforcing desired
behavior. (vice versa)
 Modularity: Utilizing objects and the
environment for multiple reasons.
 Affordance: Physical characteristics
of an object/environment influence its
function.
 Feedback loop: Innovative
classrooms emphasis the importance
of addressing new ways of learning.
 Accessibility: Objects and
environments should be designed to
be usable by many.
 Savanna preference: A tendency to
prefer savanna like environments.
Studies show that students perform
better.
 Wabi Sabi: Environments that
embody naturalness, simplicity and
subtle imperfection.
 Colour: Used to attract attention,
group elements and enhance
aesthetic appeal.

12. +
Before and After