Angelica: "We are playing on the carpet. Sabrina is planting. The carpet looks nice. I'm waiting for Sabrina to come play. I'm planting too."
Anthony: "When the bell rings they will go inside. The gym is downstairs. There is an upstairs"
Ben: "This is a fun school, there is a roller coaster. There's a guitar and drums - a rock school. There is a smart board, learning board, and television. There is a trampoline. There is a lock so bad guys can't get in. It's a carnival and a rock school".
Daniel: "I want a rainbow roof. I want to play new toys and a new floor. I want to bring toys to school".
Sammi: "I want calendar and the carpet. Read a book. Writing something"
Bland, D.
Drawing on imagination: Primary students' ideal learning environments.
Queensland University of Technology
After reading the abstract for this
article I knew instantly that it would be the article I would chose to write my
reaction paper on. With my school district’s announcement that the decrepit
80-year-old school I teach at is to be torn down and relocated to a new site,
and that teacher input would be essential in the design of the new structure, I
gladly jumped into the article hoping to glean ideas for the upcoming
consultation meeting, I was most definitely not disappointed.
The first thing that struck me when
reading this article is how true it is that the opinions and ideas of children
are not valued is so many areas of education despite the current popularity
student centred learning. My school district has hired numerous consultants,
and solicits advice from teachers and parents, but nowhere in the plan is
student feedback. However, I cannot only place blame of ignoring student
perspectives at the senior administrative level, this article also made me
question the redesigning of my classroom learning environment I took on this
January.
Earlier this year I took advantage
of my release from full-time teaching duties during my student teachers long
practicum to redesign my classroom to better meet the needs of my class[1]. I was extremely happy with my experiments in
educational design, however, after digesting the Bland article I couldn’t help
but be haunted by the fact that I never considered asking my students about our
space, or what they would like changed in their learning environment. Pacifying
myself a little with the knowledge that my re-design used well-researched early
learning practices and strategies to meet the needs of young learners, I began
to think of feasible ways to illicit feedback from my students,as working with
kindergarten aged students often presents parameters far different than those
for older children
The article focuses on the ideas and
perspectives of grade 5/6 students. This
age range was chosen based on Piaget’s concrete operational stage, the developmental
ability to think logically and use epithetical awareness. The article does
touch a little on research with 7-9 year olds, and even suggestion that a 1st
grader may be able to offer an perspective, but I teach kindergarten,
henceforth, I decided to see what they could offer.
Before giving my students the piece
of paper for their drawing, I told them about the new school and that we needed
their help. I told them that they could imagine and draw anything they wanted
about a new school (I tried to use the word learning space in place of school
but the concept was unclear to them). I specifically did not use examples or
give ideas as often they will copy ideas or examples given to them, and I
wanted this to be their perspective. I scribed their ideas for them immediately
after drawing as to not lose any meaning behind their work.
Afterwards, many constraints of this
age group on somewhat abstract concepts were evident. Most students drew
pictures that were almost exact replicas of our current school[2].
The lack of inclusion of ideas, items, or design elements that were not in the
current school seems to come from the limited experience kindergarteners have
with learning environments. For some, my classroom and their school is the only
formal learning institution they have been in, which makes it hard for them imagine
something vastly different than their own experience, - running quite parallel to the findings in
the article where no students questioned the existence of schools, or wanted to
abolish them. Only a couple to students included new ideas, such as
rollercoasters[3],
fantasy, and technology, which were similar to the article. The inclusion of
nature was also vividly represented[4]
I found this little experiment with
my students to be extremely interesting and illuminating during my school
rebuilding process. This article made me realize how much value there is in
honoring the perspectives of students in relation to their learning spaces. How
best to do this at a kindergarten appropriate level, however, is still
something I am trying to work out. Working with young learners is challenging,
but their opinions are extremely valuable. The challenge moving forward will be
to figure out how best to allow their ideas to flourish and expand without
forcing current practices or stifling their imaginations.
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