as designers of ideal learning environments and as creators of the future school
Kangas, M. (in press). Finnish children’s views on the ideal school and learning environment. Learning Environments Research.
4.3.1. overview
This study, which draws on grounded theory, reports on an investiga-tion of children’s views of their ideal school and learning environment.
The study contributes to the discussion of the future school by listening to “school experts” and discussing how their thoughts could be real-ized in the development of school to better respond to the challenges of the future. The empirical data were collected at three primary schools in Rovaniemi. Ninety-three pupils (43 girls and 50 boys) aged 10 to 12 participated in the study by writing about the school of their dreams.
The children were prompted to imagine the kind of school and environ-ment in which they would like to study. The guiding questions were:
“Imagine the kind of school you would be eager to study in. What does the school look like? What kind of activities does the school offer?” The
children were allowed to use their imagination in their descriptions (see Figure 17).
Based on the data analysis, I decided to use the term ‘well-being’ as a central descriptor of learning environments in which schoolchildren are happy to study. The findings that the ideal learning environment facili-tates well-being reveal that students desire a learning environment that contributes to the following, partly overlapping factors:
1. Physical well-being,
2. Educational and cultural well-being,
3. Socio-emotional well-being and joy of learning, and 4. Fantasy and innovations.
The children’s ideal school and learning environment enables physi-cal well-being and environmental comfort. Following Awartani et al.
(2008), physical well-being refers to “feeling comfortable with one’s body and physical ability, and being in a healthy physical state and a healthy physical environment”. For the most part, the children want-ed various physical sports and playground and game facilities. Almost equal proportions of girls and boys regarded sport as an important fac-tor. In the children’s stories, expectations of various pleasant learning methods and tools for learning were equaled by expectations of learning in informal settings. These expectations fall into the categories of educa-tional and cultural well-being. Educaeduca-tional well-being is reflected in the use of methods and practices which respond to the children’s desire to be active, playful, creative and participative in learning. Cultural well-being refers primarily to the use of the various and purposeful cultural tools available when learning in school.
Alongside their ideas with regard to the physical environment and instruction methods in their ideal school, the children highlighted im-portant social and emotional aspects of the ideal learning environment.
Their requirements pertained to socio-emotional well-being and the joy
of learning. Socio-emotional well-being is defined in the study as feeling good about relationships (peers, teachers, other adults) and feeling safe, competent and happy in the learning community and in the physical learning environment. The children’s ideal school and learning environ-ment was also innovative, affording and fantasy-oriented. The category of fantasy and innovations was divided into two subcategories: fanta-sy-oriented ideas and unconventional school practices. These comprise ideas and practices that promote schoolchildren’s curiosity and creative citizenship.
As summarized, the children’s learning environment broadened from formal learning places to informal settings, and offered an affordance network (Barab & Roth, 2006) that empowered them. I use the term
‘Broadening and Empowering Learning Environment’ (BELE) to illus-trate the totality of the learning environment that children’s expecta-tions revealed. This is an environment that provides potential for
vari-Figure 17. A child thinking about the kind of school she would like to study in.
ous informal and formal learning experiences and promotes children’s well-being, joy of learning and school satisfaction. This means that chil-dren find it to be an encouraging environment.
The study has offered insights in my work to define learning in fu-ture learning environments. The research also confirmed previous find-ings that children have relevant and appropriate thoughts and ideas regarding their learning environments, that they are well aware of the potential of schools, and that they fully understand that the learning environment has to support different aspects of their development (e.g.
Kershner & Pointon, 2000; Smees & Thomas, 1998; Smith & Parr, 2007).
4.3.2 evaluation
Introducing children’s perspective informs the recent debate on the fu-ture school in many ways. First, children’s expectations are quite real-istic, which reflects their ability to assess their own learning environ-ment. Second, the views include widely varying aspects of the learning environment: physical, social, emotional, educational and cultural. In addition, the present perspective, which highlights innovation in learn-ing environments, has much to offer the discussion. There was not so much evidence in the data illuminating the issue of children’s “intel-lectual well-being”. One reason for this may be that the children view intellectual aspects of learning as important per se, and take them for granted in the school context.
Grounded theory (Strauss & Corbin, 1990; 1998) served the purpose of the study well, that is, identifying quite unfamiliar phenomena and yielding a theoretical account. The data gathering was successful, and the children engaged in the design task enthusiastically. I use the term
“design session” in this study, because children were allowed to both write and draw in the research situation. Yet, only the written narratives were analyzed for research purposes. One weakness of the study is that,
unlike the preschoolers, the older children were not offered a possibil-ity to ideate their ideal learning environments in creative collaboration.
However, the writing task best served the aim of getting an opportunity to listen to as many children’s voices as possible.
The study inspired me to consider how well the findings echo what we know about the pedagogical foundation of the PLE. The preliminary results of the study were presented in the book “Tutkimuksia leikillisistä oppimisympäristöistä” (Hyvönen et al., 2006; 2007). My subsequent research work in the InnoSchool Research Consortium26 has provided new perspectives with which to interpret and understand the findings of this study. Hence, the in-depth analysis sparked by the findings present-ed in this study has providpresent-ed many insights into how learning environ-ments should further a variety of aspects of children’s well-being. The study contributes to the very recent debate on the future school and its educational features. I will take a closer look at this issue in chapter 5.