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Sun 8 Nov, 2009 09:14 pm
Mr. B and I were discussing this the other day.... I'm not sure how to phrase it for internet discussion but I'm going to give it a shot.... bear with me.
When did "open" classrooms become the norm?
When I went to school (I graduated from high school in '78) the desks were set in rows with the teacher at the head of the class. There was an alphabet banner posted above the chalkboard and a few other pictures (George Washington, The Signing of The Declaration of Independence, etc.) on the walls. Science classes and art classes were the only "open" type classrooms where you might share a table with other students. Still, there wasn't a lot on the walls.
Mo's classrooms (he's in the 3rd grade now) are an absolute riot of "stuff". There is not an empty space on the wall anywhere.
Mr. B., (class of '81) went to the "cake eater" (read: rich kid (or richer than me)) schools were somewhere in between what I experienced and what Mo experiences.
Now I confess: I have some serious visual problems. I don't even buy patterened clothing because it's just too damn confusing to look at. I like monochrome. I like simple. (If you have ever looked at any of my photos you might notice that I go to great pains to eliminate anything that might be distracting or superfulous.)
I can't handle visual chaos. Truly, it gives me a headache. This informs my bias against "open" classrooms". I couldn't concentrate in one if my life depended on it. Seriously.
Mr. B, god love him, thinks I'm batshit crazy and that I'm grasping at straws because of the impending "conference" we've been "invited" to "join" at Mo's school next week.
He could be right.
But of course I don't think so.
I've tried doing some research but get only the abstracts and not the meat on information concerning classroom design and concentration.
So now I'm asking for personal experiences and knowledge.
Thanks!
I think the idea behind what you would consider a cluttered and chaotic classroom is that it provides a lot of seed material. Kids exposed to more books, more blocks, more equipment - more varied experiences - learn a wider spectrum of 'stuff'. That theory (more eloquently stated than I did just now) comes from Italy and is at the basis of many modern schools.
Of course, I find it overstimulating as well. I think that you can have the potential experiences there in more or less organized ways.
@littlek,
Do you know the name of the theory or the school of thought from which this originates? I'd like to look into it.
What do you personally think about it?
@boomerang,
Look up Amelia-romagna (or something like that)
I think it is true that having more, widely diverse experiences are a good thing for most children. I also think that some children will just become overwhelmed in a setting like that and sort of shut down a little.
@littlek,
Do you mean Reggio Emilia? I know a bit about that.
@boomerang,
google this combo physical environment + classroom + research
some stuff in there with a variety of opinions of cluttered v simple design
@boomerang,
low-anxiety classroom design (primarily researched around the needs of second-language learners but you might find something of interest there)
Given Mo's visual learning style, he may have quite different requirements from what works for you, but it's an interesting topic to read about.
@boomerang,
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112421196/abstract
Quote:Abstract
Creativity of 72 third-graders from open and structured classes was measured in relation to anxiety level. Low anxiety children were found more creative in open as compared to structured classrooms. No significant differences were found between creativity levels of high anxiety students in the two types of classes
- ask your friendly local reference librarian to get the full article for you
@boomerang,
A visual learner seems (my quick read-round on this) to not have problems with visual clutter but with distractions caused by auditory/aural clutter.
http://www.phschool.com/eteach/social_studies/2003_05/essay.html
It is sort of the opposite of your problem with visual clutter.
Quote:Mr. B, god love him, thinks I'm batshit crazy
Me too but i like you anyway. maybe beacause of that.
I totally agree with you. When I went to grandparent's day for my first grade granddaughter, that was the one thing I noticed. Over stimulating, over-colored classroom with all kinds of things hanging from the ceiling. NO quiet corner or cubicles. In my other granddaughter's room, third grade level, things were more quiet.
One GD is ADHD and needs structure and a soothing environment to help her concentrate. She had trouble in the over- stimulating room.
It is interesting to read about! I intend to devote a chunk of my day reading all about it. I want to try to timeline out some ideas floating around in my head.
I know my visual limitations inform my opinion and I know that it most certainly isn't true of everyone. I'm not trying to make my problem Mo's problem, just wondering about clutter (aural clutter! need to read more about that too!) and it's effect on concentration.
The topic came up between me and Mr. B regarding some design changes we're making in the house and evolved into a discussion on environmental design and classroom design.
One of the most interesting books I've ever read was Paco Underhill's Why We Buy Underhill is a "retail anthropologist" who studies people's interaction with retail stores. Fascinating. Enviroment has a huge impact on behavior.
I've been thinking a lot about little k's comment about "seed material" because I am so guilty of being seeded. (Discussing fireplace mantels led me to think about classroom design, for example.)
For a daydreamy, connect the dots, person like me, a modern classroom would have prevented me from learning anything that they were trying to teach me. I would have been everywhere but present.
But we weren't asked to muti-task in the way that kids are today. Kids are bombarded with information. I wonder if the current "classroom clutter" isn't a way to help them learn how to turn off what isn't immediately necessary. Maybe it helps in that way.
@sullyfish6,
That's
exactly what I'm talking about, sullyfish.
I'd love to know what year you graduated and whether you went to public school in America, if you don't mind answering.
Did you ever approach the school with your observations?
@boomerang,
boomerang wrote:When did "open" classrooms become the norm?
When I went to school (I graduated from high school in '78) the desks were set in rows with the teacher at the head of the class.
this rows of kids approach had already ended in the early 1960's where I went to school (eastern Ontario in Canada). Open classrooms were the absolute standard by 1966/67.
The no-clutter/white space/high structure approach comes up when you're looking at instruction of children with autism.
http://autistic-students.suite101.com/article.cfm/autism_and_back_to_school_planning
@ehBeth,
Mo's diagnosis of non verbal learning disorder (NLD) falls into the autism spectrum of disorders.
I guess my schools were behind the times. I never had a public school class (other than science or art) that was set up with anything other than rows of desks facing forward.
Mr. B's schools sound like they were a bit more open than mine but certainly not to the extent they are now.
@boomerang,
I found out (thanks for making me google this) why the schools I went to were the way they were.
A report was released in late 1968 in Ontario ...
http://www.questia.com/googleScholar.qst?docId=5000286631
Quote: I had the same feeling 27 years ago when I first read Living and Learning, the report of the Hall-Dennis Commission, published in 1968. At that time Supreme Court Justice Emmet Hall and educator Lloyd Dennis were given the task by the Ontario government of identifying "the needs of the child as a person and a member of society and set[ting] forth the aims for the educational system of the province."
Lloyd Dennis worked with some of the classes I was in back in the early-mid 1960's (so much so that I thought the name of the report was the Lloyd- Dennis report, not Hall-Dennis). I guess we were the guinea pigs in some ways.
Yes I meant reggio-amelia.
I'm not much younger than you, Boomer. My elem school was open - even more so, maybe, than by today's standards. And I was a daydreamer.
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