Rie Troelsen
Churchill once said: “We shape the buildings, and then the buildings shape us”, indicating the interplay between space and its occupants. Until now, researching this interplay has concentrated on the design of spaces for a new generation of students according to “new” views on learning (Bennett, 2006; Grummon, 2009; Jamieson, 2003; Laing & Sörö, 2016; Villano, 2010). In this exploratory, small-scale project we set out to explore how teachers are in dialogue with the learning space they are going to use for teaching – that is, how teachers shape the room and how the room then shapes their teaching.
One way to analyse the complex relationship between space and its occupation is proposed by Lefebvre (1991) in his “spatial triad”. The triad consists of the perceived, the conceived and the lived space as space is not only decided on by architects, but also produced by the way people use it and by the meaning they ascribe to it. In our context Lefebvre’s spatial triad is transformed into the following methodological framework:
– conceived space – teachers’ sketching their perception of the learning space and analyses of these sketches as to which elements are drawn and in which order;
– perceived space – interviews of teachers describing actions and activities that will take place in the learning space;
– lived space – observational studies of how teaching proceeds focusing on how teachers and students use the learning space in a teaching situation.
Ten teachers at a university in Denmark are selected for interview and observation of their teaching sessions. All teachers teach in smaller learning spaces with room for up to 80-90 persons with a variation in furniture (for example group tables, no tables, horse shoe, fixed rows of tables…). Each teacher is interviewed about his/her conception and perception of the space and observed while teaching in the space.
The interview and observations have not yet been fully analysed, but preliminary findings suggest that the teachers’ pedagogical considerations on space can be described as spatial literacy, meaning that understanding of how to effectively use learning spaces can be defined by a specific taxonomy.
