Space Is Not Neutral

Institutions from kindergarten to graduate and professional schools seem to be in a perpetual race to build the newest, shiniest, glitziest facilities. It is the rare university campus that is without a construction crane, and private, independent and international schools are quickly catching up. A recent Chronicle of Higher Education article by Shannon Najmabadi notes that heretofore little in the way of scholarship has focused on the connection between space and learning. In short, is all this building and renovating for its own sake (or just part of an "arms race" between competitors), or does space really change something about teaching and learning?In short, yes, both teaching and learning are changed by space, sometimes in surprisingly positive ways. Along the lines of Nudge: Improving Decisions About Health, Wealth, and Happiness, by Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein, more progressive spaces (modular, open space design) elicited more progressive teaching (discussion vs lecture) even from formerly very traditional educators.Most notably, "...the feature of the rooms that seems to have the greatest impact on learning is not the expensive flat-screen monitors or other showy technology. It is the humble circular table." The table, combined with no lecture podium or a fixed place for the instructor to stand, is what "nudges" students and teachers to try new behaviors. So the impact of space (definitely not neutral!) is less about big and expensive and more about classroom design. Buildings and grounds committees: think carefully about what student and teacher behaviors you want your spaces to incent.