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The aim of this research was to study the aspects and conditions of physical space which favor or hinder the experience of university mentoring according to the perception of participants. During fieldwork, an ethnographic approach was used, based on direct and indirect observation reflected in research diaries, qualitative interviews, and an ad hoc questionnaire. A sample of 30 individuals was selected, including students and professor-mentors who were users of three spaces with different characteristics designed for individual and group mentoring. The data were collected analysed by identifying verbatim statements obtained from interviews and from accounts from the researchers' journals that were then coded and grouped into thematic categories. The results focus on the importance of factors such as natural light, comfort, accessibility, furnishings, and location; conditions such as privacy and silence; availability of materials and resources; and Internet connectivity. The participants preferred the closed space, with the open space in second place and the semi-open space third. As for other required characteristics, the preferred spaces are multi-functional and versatile, equipped with ICT tools and furniture that facilitates collaborative work and mentorship and close communication between mentor and student, and that provide necessary privacy and silence. Any spaces specifically created for mentorship should thus meet these specific criteria.

We explored how furnishings and technology impact pedagogical agility and student engagement across three flexible learning spaces. We collected various kinds of data from faculty and students teaching and learning in multiple classrooms, such as focus group interviews with students, faculty responses to reflection prompts, and pre- and post-occupancy surveys with both. Flexible furniture configuration was found to support various instructional strategies and facilitate interaction between student-student and student-instructor. A writable surface is beneficial to facilitate student engagement during group activities. Digital displays with wireless content sharing capabilities promote collaborative learning. Specific recommendations for learning space designs and faculty development are provided.

An "active learning" classroom design recognizes the importance of students becoming engaged in their own learning. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study compared student-reported data (n = 219) and used the "community of inquiry" framework to evaluate the impact of environmental features on students' experience. Students occupied traditional or active-learning classrooms, but the same course content was delivered by the same instructor. Findings indicate a preference for seating at tables versus fixed desks, appropriate personal space and sightlines to the teacher and projector screens, and gratification for forming social connections (i.e., social presence).

Non-traditional learning spaces have been a trending topic and investment opportunity during the last decade. Ostensibly their novel material settings promote active and flexible learning. This article traces the furniture layouts utilized in curricular teaching during three semesters across the first five years of use of an 80-seat non-traditional learning space in University of Helsinki, Finland. We examine space and pedagogical communication as a deleuzoguattarian arrangement; we present a tension between social, organic, and physiochemical predictability and a limited, yet observable drive to change furniture layouts to promote particular kinds of pedagogical communication in curricular teaching.

Design, manufacture and supply of school furniture in the Australian state of New South Wales following the Second World War occurred in a context of population growth and new ideologies of teaching and learning. This article addresses the particular situation in New South Wales, where administration of schooling remained highly centralised. The influence of little known educator, Herbert Oxford, his support for centralised furniture production and supply and his interest in ergonomics was crucial. In the 1960s, he coordinated planning for a School Furniture Complex that eventually operated in the 1980s. The Complex's demise meant the end of a state service to education. The article contributes to research concerned with materialities of schooling and the argument that objects are both valuable sources and legitimate subjects for the historian. Department of Education documents located at State Archives, Departmental publications and Oxford's writings inform the research.

This paper reports the findings of a case study that examined the importance of flexible learning spaces and student-centred pedagogies for facilitating effective teaching and learning in schools. By exploring the arrangement of learning spaces at the school level, the study compared a case school in Germany with the Future Classroom Lab Model. Data collection involved observations, photographs and video recordings, which were analysed through content analysis. The article demonstrates the alignment of pedagogies with seating arrangements and physical learning spaces by defining the pedagogy employed in a specific course and providing sample course activities. This paper offers suggestions for redesigning and implementing active learning classrooms, emphasising the need to increase flexible learning spaces in schools to enable student engagement with content through student-centred pedagogies. The case study findings underscore the significance of conducting assessments on classroom redesign initiatives.

This paper explores the role of material design as a form of institutional power within contemporary school settings. Drawing on concepts of "coercive design" and "hostile architecture" from design studies, the paper examines three "innovative" designs for classroom chairs -- relatively mundane but integral elements of the regulation and disciplining of school space. It is argued that the design intentions of these material objects reveal a number of constrained, conservative intentions to maintain the traditional ordered notion of the classroom as a place where students stay in their seats and engage in work. Tellingly, however, this corporeal manipulation and moderation is now couched in claims around desirable physiological and cognitive conditions for learning -- with students' bodies seen as objects to arrange and constrain in ways deemed conducive for learning. The paper problematises this de-socialised view of classrooms, alongside the underpinning sense of design solutionism and (mis)appropriation of "learning science" by product designers to justify their products' capacities to somehow cause learning to take place.

Background: Traditional workplace interventions have targeted sedentary behavior using standing desk-based interventions delivered in the physical workplace. However, little is known about standing desk interventions designed for employees in flexible positions working at home and in the workplace. Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine factors associated with the motivation to participate in and perceived benefits of a mobile standing desk intervention. Methods: After participating in an 8-week intervention using a mobile standing desk, employees (n = 20) completed one focus group session. Focus groups were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analyzed using thematic analysis in NVivo. Results: Themes associated with motivation to participate included: 1) trialability; 2) previous experience; 3) health concerns; and 4) difficulty accessing a standing desk. Themes about perceived benefits of the intervention included: 1) awareness of workday behavior; 2) productivity; and 3) usefulness in the home setting. Discussion: Employees perceived work-related and health-related benefits from the mobile standing desk intervention. Motivating factors to use a mobile standing desk should be considered when recruiting employees for workplace interventions and programs. Translation to Health Education Practice: Findings from this study may help health education specialists design standing desk-based interventions for employees with remote and flexible work schedules. A AJHE Self-Study quiz is online for this article via the SHAPE America Online Institute (SAOI) http://portal.shapeamerica.org/trn-Webinars http://portal.shapeamerica.org/trn-Webinars

This article explores the library space needs and wants of graduate and undergraduate students at a medium-size state University in Southwest Florida. The researcher conducted a sequential explanatory mixed methods study in which they administered a survey to all currently enrolled graduate and undergraduate students at the university and followed up with semi-structured interviews to better understand students library space needs/wants and how those elements contribute to student success through a lens of academic and social engagement. The researcher identified several library space needs that were common to both graduate and undergraduate students including: comfortable and functional furniture, a variety of study spaces including a mix of individual and group spaces, conducive noise levels, technology, whiteboards, windows to let in natural light, seclusion food and drink options nearby, safety and security, adequate lighting and electrical outlets, and effective wayfinding. An additional need of separate graduate student space was also identified. Findings from this study can help inform the design of library spaces to better support student success through engagement.

The importance of classroom architecture has long been recognized and supported as a significant factor in Early Years teaching and learning, garnering an explicit focus in policy and practice in Scotland. The same cannot be said of practices beyond the early years, where the explicit role of classroom architecture has been less clearly defined. In my study, I adopted an inductive approach, using a systematic literature review followed by a directed content image analysis to explore how the classroom architecture supports teaching and learning in the primary school for children ages 7-11. Within the study, classroom architecture was defined as the use and arrangement of furniture, organisation of resources, and sensory variables. The goal of the study was to better understand how classroom architecture supports teaching and learning to inform teacher practices in Scottish primary schools. Findings suggest classroom architecture is an essential element of positive teaching and learning environments for primary classrooms. Flexible and purposeful use of furniture, attention to seating arrangement, organisation and access to resources, and attention to the impact of sensory variables play a part in children's social, emotional, cognitive, and physical development and can be used by the teacher to create positive instructional environments.

A mismatch between furniture and body characteristics can cause musculoskeletal discomfort during prolonged sitting for a variety of learners. The purpose of this study was to explore university students' perceived changes in pain and/or discomfort, perceived level of comfort, and perceived ability to focus and learn while using four common desk chair styles. After recording standing and seated height, sixty-seven university students completed a survey tool which contained six sections: (1) demographics, (2) type of desk chair used and time in desk chair, (3) pain and/or discomfort rating and location prior to and after desk chair use, (4) impact of desk chair on pain and/or discomfort, (5) rating of desk chair comfort, and (6) rating of desk chair adjustability. A desk chair with padding and a large frame was rated significantly highest in overall comfort. Participants reported significantly increased upper back pain when using a desk chair with minimal arm support. During periods of prolonged seating, desk chairs should accommodate various sized bodies and have cushioning, as well as support for the upper body.

The concept of 'flexible seating' has emerged as a possibility to meeting the goals of an active learning classroom. Recent scholarship has suggested that numerous student learning predictors are enhanced when interacting with flexible seating. This study aims to fill a gap in the literature by investigating the effects of flexible seating from a physical perspective in the higher education setting. Seventy-five participants engaged in mixed-method data collection and analysis strategies that included observations and field notes, a validated online survey, and open-ended question prompts. A thematic review and descriptive analysis revealed almost 80% of the respondents indicated that the flexible seating had a positive effect on their experience in the course related to the following themes: (a) Movement Opportunity; (b) Back Pain & Comfort; (c) Anxiety & Restlessness; and (d) Focus & Engagement. This research provides evidence that physically comfortable classrooms promote a sense of well-being, keep minds focused, and limit distractions, and that physically comfortable classrooms with increased movement opportunities for students make possible mental and emotional health benefits, as well. Results indicate the need for campuses to (re)consider the purposes and roles of seating styles within the 21st century classrooms, with seating selection based on principles of universal design.

The aim of this research was to get the opinions of primary school teacher candidates about flexible classrooms in which technology is integrated, the flexibility in the physical arrangement of the classrooms and the modern approach to classroom structuring, as opposed to the traditional classroom structure, and the role of teachers in these classrooms. The research study group consisted of 3rd-year pre-service teachers studying at a state university education faculty from 2021-2022. In the research, the data were obtained with a semi-structured interview form. For the analysis of the obtained data, the MAXQDA 2022 program and a content analysis technique were used. One of the main conclusions of the research was that the participants associated their definitions of the flexible classroom with the physical arrangement the most. According to their drawings, they preferred a u-shaped seating arrangement, and they defined the teachers of the flexible classrooms sociologically.

This descriptive research using the relational screening model aims at examining the controllable variables that affect students' exam success. In this research, the problems of whether the time spent by the students with their families, having a study desk or room at home, having a library at home and the time spent on digital screens affect student success. The research study group consists of third- and fourth-grade students from 20 primary schools in various provinces of Turkey, selected by a convenient sampling method in the years 2020-2021. Variables with the achievement evaluation exam were prepared by the field teachers for the student's exam scores and controlled by the expert teachers. The data obtained in the research were analyzed assisted by the SPSS program with descriptive and logistic regression analysis. The research results concluded that students who have a room or a desk at home, have a library at home, spend quality time at home with their family in the evenings, and feel happy at home can increase student success in primary schools.

The study aims to examine the opinions of pre-service classroom teachers about science laboratories. The research was conducted with 66 third-year students (50 female, 16 male) studying in the classroom teaching undergraduate program of a university in the fall semester of the 2019-2020 academic year. In selecting the participants, taking the "Science Laboratory Applications" course before their volunteerism was taken as a basis. The Drawing-writing technique was used as a data collection tool, and the data were analyzed by content analysis. According to the findings obtained, it was seen that the pre-service teachers mostly used laboratory tables and volumetric flasks in their laboratory drawings. Participants stated that there are mostly chemicals, microscopes and test tubes in the laboratory environment. Almost all pre-service classroom teachers thought that the greatest advantage of using laboratories in science is to embody scientific phenomena. In addition, some pre-service teachers thought that there is no disadvantage in using the laboratory, while some thought that there might be various accidents. According to the findings, it was concluded that the pre-service classroom teachers had a general knowledge of science laboratories and thought that using laboratories in science education would provide an advantage rather than a disadvantage.

This research explored the best shapes and layouts of seating arrangements for fostering process performances of students in studio-style learning spaces, which have emerged in the development of collaborative learning environments in higher education. We conducted a design case study to explore both team and individual process performances during a small-group activity in a round-shaped and a crescent-shaped seating arrangement. Evaluators observed and measured the individual process performance of each group member together with the team process performances of each group. All factor scores of the individual process performance were higher in the crescent-shaped seating arrangement than in the round-shaped seating arrangement, with substantive effect sizes. In the group process performance, the factor scores of 'planning and process' and 'independence and leadership' in the crescent-shaped seating arrangement were substantially higher than those of the round-shaped arrangement, indicating that the crescent-shaped seating arrangement fostered students' ability to collaborate responsibly in their project work. Video analysis revealed that groups in the crescent-shaped layout tended to have more eye-contact and to spend less time planning, which indicates that such sociopetal effects have the potential to promote efficiency in the discussion between people seated in a crescent-shaped arrangement. We discuss the necessity to take students' seating arrangements into consideration regarding the sociopetal, as well as a proximal focal point and less-disparate distance between the leader and other participants to allow them to engage in their own work better.

As schools strive to instill college and career readiness within students, the academic success of students continues to be a priority of educators and administrators alike. The classroom learning environment utilized by students was examined throughout this study. Specifically, this study examined how the spaces within the classroom are utilized by students and how classroom spaces impact interactions between students and teachers. This qualitative study employed classroom maps and recording logs to gather data from students in second and fifth grade classrooms. With the data collected, the relationship between classroom environment and student engagement was examined. From the research, many common trends emerged. Common themes included that students prefer a specific seating choice in the classroom, flexible seating options were selected more than traditional seating options, and some students needed teacher directed instruction on modifications needed with seating choice or reminders how to sit in a specific choice. With these findings, it promoted a more collaborative work environment in the classroom.

This study draws on the analysis of 56 hours of classroom video recordings and daily room usage checklists as well as interview data from students and faculty teaching in a large, flexible, technology-rich, and collaborative classroom, "Collaboration Café." The goal is to explore faculty practices and student perspectives to increase our understanding of pedagogic interactions and the use of space and technology in active learning spaces. Informed by the updated version of Radcliffe's Pedagogy-Space-Technology (PST) framework, we argue the pivotal role of actors (i.e., faculty and students) in an active learning environment to use technology, space, and pedagogy in ways which foster learning. The discussion highlights that the faculty's choice of instructional technique shapes active and collaborative learning behaviors in the classroom. Also, student perspectives provided evidence for satisfaction with room features such as fluidity versatility, and scalability.

This multiple case study (Flyvbjerg, 2011; Stake, 2006) of three new rural high school libraries, located in two states in the U.S. Midwest, and the school communities they serve is part of a long-term research agenda grounded in a critical perspective (Anderson, 1989). The study is devoted to deepening the understanding of the relationships between teenagers' student peer culture, commonly perceived as intrinsically problematic in the U.S., and the contributions of informal learning environments and non-classroom spaces to school social climate (Voight & Nation, 2016). I found that school libraries are places prone to promoting positive school climates.

Understanding the educational environment and effectively regulating it in consistent with educational objectives is an important factor in facilitating teaching and a crucial ability for the teachers. Investigating the perception of 12 classroom teachers at four elementary schools about their classroom environment, this study aims to reveal the situation about their classroom environment, its effects, and the desired classroom environment in terms of the functions of the classroom environment. Two analytical frameworks, Classroom Functions Theory as well as Environmental Competence, are means to understand this topic. A semi-structured interview form and an observation form were used as data collection instruments. In the study, it was observed that the majority of teachers were able to evaluate the classroom environment, but they remained unsolved about how the classroom can be designed better. Besides, the teachers stated that their classroom environments performed social, symbolic identity, and task instrumentality functions in a limited way for various reasons while largely functioning the shelter and security. Finally, the teachers emphasized that their classes did not fulfill growth and pleasure functions and that most of their desires about the classroom environment were related to these functions.

The article presents the results of a large-scale Polish project aimed at examining the quality of early childhood education and care using the SACERS research tool. Although the SACERS scale consists of 47 items, this article focuses mainly on the data concerning the assessment of space and furnishings of 140 school common rooms in terms of the first subscale: 'Space and Furnishings'. According to the SACERS, the results prove that the quality of space and furnishings in Polish school common rooms for 5-9-year-old children is inadequate. An in-depth study of one area shows that the child's need for privacy and the need to create and mark space are not satisfied. The furnishings for gross motor activities and the access to host facilities (e.g. a sports field, school library, canteen) are better. The research results show that the philosophy of organising space in the SACERS differs from the school reality. This article aims to help educational authorities, schools, and other subjects to maximise the use of educational environments. A multifaceted study conducted on a large sample provides empirical evidence in favour of the concern for the quality of school common rooms.

Many children with disabilities engage in less physical activity compared to their peers. This pilot-feasibility study examines the effects of movement-based desk and alternative seating on classroom physical activity, time on task, reading fluency, and reading comprehension scores in fourth/fifth and seventh/eighth-grade children with disabilities. Using a cross-over 8-week design, action desks were included in fourth/fifth (N = 14) and seventh/eighth (N = 21) grade classrooms for students with disabilities. Levels of physical activity were measured using accelerometers; reading ability was assessed using AIMSweb Oral Reading Fluency and MAZE probes; time on task was measured using video recordings over 3 consecutive days. Data were collected at 0-week, 4-week, 8-week, 12-week, and 16-week time points. A significant increase in metabolic equivalent was seen in fourth/fifth graders and a significant decline in time spent in sedentary activity were observed in both fourth/fifth and seventh/eighth graders. The fourth/fifth graders increased their time spent in moderate physical activity and time on task during the intervention whereas seventh/eighth graders improved oral reading fluency. How a physical activity-based classroom may be an effective intervention in students with disabilities to improve levels of physical activity and improve academic learning is discussed.

Taiwan's vocational wood-furniture schools still focus only on the traditional manual training strategy, and so students' knowledge of the furniture-manufacturing process is fragmented. Moreover, they possess limited manual skills without learning the workflows and strategies of furniture production, which is inadequate for satisfying the direct work demands of the furniture industry overseas. In response, through virtual reality (VR) technology, this study employed simulations of the furniture production lines in a large Vietnamese furniture-manufacturing factory, enabling students to experience and observe the manufacturing process of furniture production through VR to overcome the limitations in the present teaching environment. In doing so, we recruited 29 freshmen majoring in a furniture-and-woodworking program and divided them into an experimental group (N=15) and a control group (N=14). They were trained with actual furniture production-process cases according to the furniture mass-production process, including paper-based tests, equipment configuration re-draws and production planning table writing. The results showed that the students in the experimental VR-training group had superior judgment concerning the concept of batch furniture production line. This indicates that applying VR technology to the vocational training of batch furniture production effectively enhanced the students' familiarity of the fast and dynamic production situation of furniture production lines.

The authors recount a collaborative art-making journey centered on self-reflexivity to sustain a partnership across racial, social, and cultural differences. The image of a chair, re-imagined as a Humble Chair, was a symbol to anchor critical inquiry. The authors' explorations provide a pragmatic and artful approach to fostering cultural humility.

Faculty in higher education are challenged to change their instructional approaches in outmoded, stagnant learning spaces to meet the needs of 21st century learners. Traditional learning spaces on most college campuses consist of locked, rowed seating and desks designed to maximize room capacity and accommodate large numbers of students. The physical constraints of these spaces often limit the use of more innovative teaching methods that allow students to assume greater ownership of their learning. For more active, student-centered learning to occur, greater mobility in the physical learning space may be necessary to allow for improved connection, collaboration, interest, and engagement. In this paper, we share experiences in forging a public-private partnership to transform a 46-seat computer lab into a 32-seat active learning center (ALC) in which mobility is a signature feature. Upon using the ALC for the first time, options for space and furniture configuration allowed instructors to create, and re-create, work groups to facilitate student collaboration while digital technology and active learning tools allowed students to share information easily and often. Most students rated their experiences in the ALC favorably, though not all participants embraced the active learning approach and instructional space with immediacy. Original research would help to understand students' experiences and isolate the effects of space on student learning and engagement. Our successes and challenges in building and using the ALC may be used to meaningfully inform other public-private partnerships in higher education to transform teaching and learning through active instructional design approaches.

The consensus-based assessment has long been a prevalent methodology employed in "panel crit" settings in design education and professional design awards. Acknowledging the subjective nature of design evaluation and its importance to the design development process, we report two studies investigating the effect of three levels of design expertise (expert, quasi-expert, and novice) on the evaluation of award-winning lamp designs using the consensual assessment technique (CAT). The pilot study (N = 30) preliminarily examined expertise-related differences in evaluation outcome (i.e., ratings and rankings) and the use of the CAT instrument. In a follow-up study (N = 135), we tested four hypotheses using the refined CAT instrument. Results showed a significant interaction effect between expertise group and design on evaluation. Correlations between groups showed that quasi-experts were more similar to novices than experts. This finding contributes to the discussion on whether quasi-experts should be considered proper substitutes for experts. Furthermore, the reliability of ratings on individual CAT scale items varied among groups, suggesting that the degree to which raters were consistent within a group depends upon which aspect of design quality they were assessing. Taken together, the findings provide valuable insights into the influence of design education and experience on judging design quality.

In the spring of 2011, a teacher allowed his fourth and fifth grade students to draw and write on their classroom tables. What began as a few names eventually turned into a series of frenetic marks that completely covered the tabletops. Over the course of two years, new groups of students brought with them another cycle of marking that evolved in the form of notations, designs, and even carvings. The teacher documented this process over the years collecting data in the form of digital photographs, video clips, email communiqués, and teacher journal entries. This paper presents an analysis of the data, a discussion on the effects of allowing general elementary classroom students a significant degree of creative agency, and the pedagogical impacts of that agency.

During a Design and Technology class, engagement is both required to start creative hands-on work and a sign of pupil's creative thinking. To find ways to achieve engagement, we can look to the Montessori tradition. Due to the fact that learning is regarded as feeding insight through experimenting, tasks have to offer pupils the opportunity to gain knowledge about isolated details of the learning situation. This is realised by brief, simple and objective tasks combined with liberty to approach the hands-on work in one's own way. Applied to Design and Technology, we can define brief, simple and objective tasks with a focus on a technique as an isolated detail of the learning situation. Offering liberty during hands-on work enables creative thinking. The deployment of well-defined tasks with a focus on a technique is possible by dividing a complex assignment into a collection of brief tasks with single problems and working towards single objectives in the topic, making use of a single technique. Such a collection is a format that has the potential to enable ongoing engagement. This case-study researches the actual effect of a stepwise organised collection of tasks on the design performance of pupils of nine to twelve years old. The results show that the tasks turned out to be useful in initiating engagement. In combination with joint presentations, ongoing engagement was achieved resulting in well-considered designs and products. In addition, dialogue with disengaged pupils delivered solutions towards engagement. As a side-effect of dialogue the teacher-pupil relationships and the pupil-pupil relationships improved.

It is seen that studies on learning spaces in higher education institutions are very few in the literature. However, spaces have the power to affect behaviors and interactions with others. This study aims to determine the wishes of university students regarding the physical environment. For this purpose, it is planned to determine the missing things in the existing physical environment according to the "wish poems" of undergraduate students and their related wishes. Accordingly, the sample of the study consisted of 211 participants among the students of the faculty of education at a state university. In the study, for the purpose of revealing the views of the undergraduate students on the physical environment of their school, they were given a semi-structure, open-ended question format as "I wish there were … in my classroom/faculty/campus" and asked to write down 3 wishes regarding the physical environment. The obtained data were analyzed by using the content analysis method. In the study, different numbers of conceptual categories were reached under each sub-title with the method of coding and imaging. At the end of the study, 578 clear responses were obtained, and after examination, these responses were gathered under 35 conceptual categories in total. The categories about which the students had the most wishes were related to the furniture and equipment in their classrooms (f=51, 26.2%), social (f=33, 18.5%) and scientific (f=32, 17.9%) areas at the faculty and green spaces at the campus (f=61, 29.6%). Consequently, as pioneers of social and scientific change, it is important for universities to reevaluate their existing physical facilities based on the wishes of students in terms of feeding their innovative instincts. [This study was presented as a paper at the International School Principals Conference held in Istanbul.]

Educational frameworks mandate schools to adopt, design and implement strategies that support inclusive education. Despite the inclusive education policy, disability remains a major course of exclusion in learning institutions. The paper discusses the impact of school strategies in overcoming physical barriers that hinder the implementation of inclusive education. The actual sample constituted 151 respondents. The data were collected using questionnaires to identify views from 100 teachers teaching learners with disabilities, interviews from 11 learners with disabilities to discuss personal experiences on physical barriers and 5 focus groups discussions with non-disabled learners learning in the same classroom with learners with disabilities. The study was guided by Social Model of Disability and adopted a mixed method research design. Quantitative data were analyzed using inferential statistics. The ANOVA and t-test were done to test the study hypotheses. Qualitative data were organized by developing codes, then categorized into themes and presented in a narrative form. Linear regression was carried out to check the linear relationships between the variables. The study established the school strategies were not anchored in overcoming physical barriers that hindered the implementation of inclusive education, with various challenges affecting the strategies. For this reason, learners with disabilities have to adjust to get the needed education or drop out of school. Therefore, the study concluded that ineffective school strategies contributed to lack of overcoming physical barriers and this negatively impacted the implementation of inclusive education in schools. School transformation founded on clear inclusive education vision and philosophy, policies and inclusive strategies are necessary to overcome physical barriers hindering the implementation of inclusive education.

This article discusses how the author, Kay Waitman, provided a safe and welcome environment in her school's library, by creating an "Our Languages" collection of books in the first languages of all her students, from Espanõl to Hmong to Yup'ik Eskimo. She also partnered with a local furniture store, Scan Home, to create a large, cozy seating area in the library and a safe place for students to visit when they feel sad, angry, or other feelings that often accompany transitions to new settings or trauma. The different ways her students utilize and value the books within the "Our Languages" collection reflect the Include Shared Foundation from the American Association of School Librarians (AASL) Standards across many Domains. Her students value balanced perspectives that are enhanced by the school library's variety of resources.

Active learning spaces form an important part of university learning environments and have the potential to enhance student learning, yet studies on student and faculty perceptions of collaborative learning pedagogies indicate that many remain resistant. To overcome this resistance, an academic department developed and implemented an active learning initiative to assist faculty who are preparing to teach in a classroom newly renovated for active learning pedagogies. Five semi-structured focus groups explored perceptions of faculty and students in the inaugural classes meeting in the renovated space to identify what they perceived to have enhanced or detracted from faculty delivery of content and student learning experiences. Thematic analysis revealed three themes: positive improvements in the physical classroom environment, enhanced student engagement, and improved instructional methodology because of faulty training and classroom renovation. Key findings indicated primarily positive perceptions of the renovated physical environment, especially the tables and mobile white boards; however, participants also noted frustrations with the furniture, classroom layout, and technology influencing student engagement and effectiveness of active learning strategies. Overall, data supported the conclusion that the classroom renovation and faculty training program effectively facilitated positive learning experiences and student-instructor interactions.

This design case describes the process by which a private office was renovated using the Working Labs model, which engages students, faculty, and staff in hands-on engagement from project conception through completion and beyond into ongoing evaluation of everyday use. The spaces that follow the Working Labs model are intended to provide students of a Southeastern University's nationally ranked interior design program with hands-on access to furnishings, fixtures, products, and materials from leading industry partners. The authors will describe the process by which the initiative was launched and how the first phase was brought to completion on time and at little cost to the University.

The Texas Woman's University Future Classroom Laboratory (TWUFCL) is a unique learning space designed for use by university faculty, future teachers, and local PreK-12 teachers and students. Part of the European Schoolnet's Network of Future Classroom Labs, the TWUFCL offers users the chance to explore the science of teaching and learning in a technology-rich environment containing a multitude of individual approaches and applications that are available to teachers throughout the U.S. Centered around the Four C's of 21st Century Learning: communication, collaboration, critical thinking, and creativity. This unique learning space allows future teachers to explore technology and applications available in schools prior to student teaching. The space allows faculty to incorporate practical, interactive teaching experiences into coursework. Local K-12 teachers and students can use the innovative environment to explore ideas and applications they can take back to their own classrooms and use with students across the curriculum. The collaborative design approach to this evolving educational laboratory for training teachers and students included stakeholders from throughout the university and community in its state-of-the-art design described within.

Contribution: This article presents a study that adds evidence to the field of computer education by focusing on the interaction between shapes of tables, group size, and gender, and their effects on on-task collaborative learning actions. By studying the collaborative learning environment in the context of computer education, the aim is to understand how different on-task actions are affected by the mentioned factors. Background: Previous research on collaborative learning space in the collaborative computer education context with the focus on the group formation, gender aspect, and analysis of on-task actions. Research Questions: Do different table shapes have different effects on open-ended computer education on-task actions for different groups sizes (two and three participants) and for different genders? Methodology: In order to study a collaborative problem-solving activity that is based on creating a prototype of a responsive toy, two main conditions were examined: table shape (round or rectangular) and how this interacts with group size (two or three participants) and gender. University students were engaged in design tasks conducted in small groups following the Jigsaw pattern. Findings: Results show that students engage more in interaction with physical artifacts when collaboration is conducted in dyads. In terms of gender, the analysis shows a tendency of female students to engage more when the activity is conducted in dyads. Furthermore, the combination of a dyad structure and a round table resulted in more discussion and nonverbal interaction.

Stability balls have become a common option for alternative seating in classrooms. While the social validity of stability ball classroom seating remains high among students and teachers, findings on the effectiveness of this alternative seating method are mixed. This is particularly true when the intent of the intervention is to increase student on-task behavior. This study examined the effects of stability ball seating on students' on-task behavior in a general education setting, using a within-subjects repeated measures design. Researchers observed twenty-four third-grade students in a public-school classroom across three conditions: all chairs, all balls, or choice. Across observation days, the study controlled for time of day, teacher, and classroom environment. Results indicate students are on-task less frequently when sitting on a stability ball. Student reports on social validity replicated prior findings; students found the stability ball to be desirable and easy to use.

There is a national urgency in higher education to close the achievement gap and increase graduation rates for first-generation, low-income, and underrepresented minorities, and classroom environments are integral to the student learning experience. The authors propose shifting learningspace discussions away from building an historically small number of active-learning spaces toward a larger number of what they term "learning-ready classrooms," which apply universal design principles to support the multiple teaching identities, perspectives, and philosophies of faculty and the physiological, cultural, and cognitive needs of all students. Equitable access to learning-ready classrooms means they must be built at scale, so it is imperative to earn campus-wide commitment to this goal by honoring the multiple perspectives, priorities, and cultures of the academy. The authors propose a cross-cultural organizational framework, embodied in the example of a Classroom Readiness Committee charter, that unites and aligns the different organizational perspectives and efforts of its members through clearly articulated mission, vision, function, and belief statements. This case study suggests that institutions can engage and mobilize multiple stakeholders to address the common goal of providing equitable access to learning-ready classrooms as long as the goal aligns with the core values and priorities of the institution, is clearly articulated and communicated, and honors the cultures of the academy.

In this study, it has been intended to examine reading cultures of pre-service teachers depending on multiple variables. The study group of this research consists of 377 pre-service teachers who are studying in fourth grade at Turkish Education, Psychological Counseling and Guidance, Primary School Mathematics Education, Computer and Instructional Technologies, Fine Arts-Music Education, English Education, and Special Education departments during the fall semester of 2017-2018 education year. "Reading Culture Scale", which was formerly developed by the researchers, was carried out in order to designate the reading culture of pre-service teachers. With reference to the produced statistical analyses, the total average point on reading culture of pre-service teachers, who had attended the study, was found as medium. When variables affecting reading cultures of pre-service teachers were examined, a significant difference was observed in the variable of gender, and female pre-service teachers were identified to have higher average points in RCS comparing to male pre-service teachers. There are significant differences in RCS total points of pre-service teachers as regards to the variables of membership to the library, owning a bookcase, having a habit of reading. It has been designated that pre-service teachers with membership to the library, owning a bookcase and having a habit of reading had more RCS total average points than others. Through outcomes of this study, status evaluation, concerning reading cultures of pre-service teachers, had been conducted; and several suggestions were made upon adopting a reading culture to an individual with the aim of future studies.

The research was conducted with the aim of determining the levels of reading motivation of students who are studying in the department of teaching in terms of various variables and the factors that cause having low and high reading motivation. The research is based on the determination of the internal and external motivation sources that motivate or disincline students in reading who are studying in the department of teaching and the development of solutions accordingly. The research was conducted with mixed method. Within the mixed method, the explanatory sequential design was used. The first study group of the research consists of 238 first grade students who are studying in the different departments of the Faculty of Education in a state university in the academic year of 2018-2019. The second study group of the research consists of 18 students who wanted to participate in the second phase of the research and has low and high reading motivation. The data collection tools of the study include the Adult Reading Motivation Scale (ARMS) which was developed by Schutte and Malouff (2007) and interview form which consists of open-ended questions. In the analysis of the quantitative data, within the IBM SPSS statistical program, descriptive researches, independent samples t-test since the data demonstrate normal distribution and one-way ANOVA test were used. In the analysis of qualitative data, MAXQDA Analytics Pro 12 qualitative analysis program was used for coding the data, determining the themes, organizing the themes and defining and interpreting the findings. The obtained results are as follows: Reading motivation of female students are higher than male students. Students who have a bookcase in their home have a higher motivation than those who don't have. The department students study does not create a difference in reading motivation. Students who have high reading motivation define themselves as conscious readers and individuals who find pleasure in reading. Personal pleasure and the desire to improve are the leading factors that incline individuals to read. It is observed that taking someone as a model and being influenced by a peer are important for reading motivation. The leading reasons that decrease reading motivation are school, activities with friends and getting bored from reading. Students who have high reading motivation are considered to be individuals who acquired reading habit and are good readers since they read with the purposes of self-development, acquiring knowledge, homework and pleasure as well as curiosity. While the factors which excite students the most in reading are curiosity, interest and gripping narration, the elements that disturb the students are long descriptions and unobtrusive subjects. It is recommended that families and teachers should be role models and guidance should be given in book selection and appropriate reading environment should be established in increasing reading motivation. It is also recommended that students make readings with peer groups.

Institutions may invest heavily into building and equipping new learning teaching spaces with the intention of encouraging active and collaborative learning to occur. However, there may not be a concomitant shift in teachers' existing pedagogical practices. This qualitative study examined the perspectives of thirty-two tertiary teachers across a range of disciplines at a single institution. The findings suggest that working in new collaborative learning spaces challenged many participants to make changes to their existing practices that moved them along a possible continuum to be more facilitative and learner-centered in their approach.

The emergence of active learning classrooms (ALCs) on university campuses introduces a need for university teachers to have knowledge of the pedagogical use of physical space. We consider expanding two well-known frameworks for teacher knowledge. Pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) describes teacher knowledge about teaching discipline-specific content. Technological, pedagogical, and content knowledge (TPACK) recognizes digital technology as part of the knowledge base. With increased attention on learning spaces, we propose redefining technology to include non-digital technologies, (e.g. furniture, whiteboards). Further, we add "environment" to the knowledge base to address rhetorical communications from both the physical space and the classroom climate.

The primary focus of the research was to investigate the importance of physical facilities to improve teaching learning process at college level in tehsil Kotli Azad Kashmir. It was descriptive study in nature. All teachers of public colleges of tehsil Kotli Azad Kashmir constituted population of the study. The study was delimited to public colleges of tehsil Kotli. Two post graduate colleges were selected for pilot testing process and these colleges were also included in final study. Consecutive sampling technique was used to draw the sample from population and 50% sample was selected randomly from the population. The data obtained was analyzed by using SPSS software. The study explore that physical facilities are essential for any effective teaching learning process. Findings of the study were that enough availability of physical facilities should improve any teaching learning process. The study recommends that; all basic and needed educational facilities such as furniture and buildings etc should be provided. College's libraries must be updated according to the requirement of syllabus. College's laboratories are equipped according to syllabus requirements. All required A.V aids should be provided.

The Industry 4.0 (I4.0) aims to develop a framework where the new technologies interoperate with each other and with employees, creating a smart and efficient environment. Although there are many public and private initiatives focused on boosting the deployment of I4.0 in all sectors worldwide, the adoption is slower than expected. One of the main reasons is the lack of training in those technologies involved in I4.0, the so-called key-enabling technologies (KET). In this article, the current status of I4.0 adoption from the industry, employees, and training point of view is analyzed. The lack of I4.0 competences in the curricula of vocational education training (VET) and higher education (HE) is also highlighted. Finally, the European innovative training action IN4WOOD is presented as a successful open and free training tool developed to offer students, employees, and managers an easy way to learn, use, and deploy KET of I4.0. Although the main target users of the training action are those in the furniture and woodworking sector, it has been designed to be useful also for users in other business sectors. The training tool is composed of more than 300 video learning pills, practical use cases, gamification, and evaluation test for measuring the level of knowledge acquired. The training tool has been tested in a pilot launched in four European countries. The results from the pilot prove that the IN4WOOD training helps to fill the skill gaps identified in the current VET/HE students and improves the competitiveness of employees, managers, and enterprises.

Objectives: To understand experiences with and measure the effect of mobile standing desks (MSD) on undergraduates' sedentary time (ST). Participants: Two samples of full-time undergraduates in Fall 2018. Methods: Study 1 (n = 21): baseline average daily ST was measured via activPAL4[superscript TM] inclinometers and the NIGHTLY-WEEK-U questionnaire for 7 days. Participants received a MSD for one week then intervention ST was calculated. Study 2 (n = 28): baseline ST was measured with an online NIGHTLY-WEEK-U questionnaire, participants received a MSD for one month, then intervention ST was calculated. Paired-sample t-tests assessed differences. Interviews/online questions explored experiences. Results: Study 1: objectively measured (p = 0.0045, d = 0.71) and self-report (p = 0.0005, d = 0.92) ST reduced significantly post-intervention. Study 2: ST reduced significantly post-intervention (p = < 0.0001, d = 0.98). Facilitators and barriers to desk usage were described. p d p d p d Conclusions MSD were effective for reducing undergraduates' ST across one-week and one-month.

The likelihood of teaching a student with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) has steadily increased over the past two decades. However, the practical information about working with students with ASD has not increased at a similar rate. Teachers may therefore be unaware of simple modifications they can make to their classrooms to meet the needs of students with ASD. This article is based on a review of empirical studies about environmental factors that influence the way individuals with ASD attend to and process information. Findings from these studies indicate that individuals with ASD rely on vision to gather information more than any other sense. Based on these findings, the authors outline simple physical adjustments teachers can make to the visual displays, physical layout, and lighting in the classroom.

Expectations placed on educators to improve academic performance continue to increase across the United States. One reason for this rise in expectancy is the enactment of The Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) of 2015. Replacing the No Child Left Behind (NCLB) Act of 2002, the ESSA mandates that "all students are taught to high academic standards" (ESSA, 2015). Subsequently, educators constantly seek best practices that foster effective learning environments. A component of the learning environment oftentimes excluded from research is the physical structure of a classroom, such as the type of seating in a classroom. Research suggests that students who are expected to spend extended periods of time sitting in traditional desks with limited movement breaks during the school day are at risk for inattention to learning and increased misbehaviors (Wingrat & Exner, 2005). Thus, this quantitative study examined the effect of alternative seating in the form of disc 'o' sit cushions on fifth grade students' time on- and off-task during mathematics instruction. In addition, a survey was administered to determine students' perceptions of alternative seating.