Learning Spaces

A year to remember: David L. Schrader

The Annual LearningScapes Conference in Atlanta, Georgia marked the end of David’s role as Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Association for Learning Environments. While it was the culmination of his time as A4LE chairman, it was a continuation of a great legacy and a beginning for the next great year for this organization. Here, David reflects on the last twelve months.

Closing out 2017, A4LE is very proud to usher in the coming year with great a new publication, Learning Spaces. The last few issues of Learning Spaces have been available to members of A4LE to demonstrate the incredible examples of projects globally that advocate for innovative learning environments. The A4LE membership cannot continue to thrive and to provide these examples, without a strong basis from which to operate. 2017 was a year to entrench ourselves globally and as such has been a year of re-building. It has meant re-establishing many of our organizational practices to create that foundation from which we continue to thrive.

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      string(5642) "These boxes are an instant toolboxfor teachers looking to extend the learning.We support staff to develop and upload their owncontent to the system – so spaces are only limited bythe imagination of the staff and students who usethem. This creates potentially infinite scope for newtopics.Special needsThe rooms are used to engage all the senses – so everychild, whatever their age or ability, can enjoy andexperience the space. David is a pupil with additionallearning needs. He struggles with concentration andengagement. But he had become really interested inSpace, and was curious to know what it would be liketo eat his sandwiches on the moon.With the help of support staff, David built acardboard rocket in class that day and decorated it.The teachers told David to bring a packed lunch thefollowing day for a ‘trip’.David entered our room to discover the rocket inthe centre and a moving starscape on the projectionscreens. As the teachers counted for lift-off, soundeffects of the rocket thrust boomed from the deepbass of the surround sound system and the adventurebegan! The staff were amazed at David’s focus andexcitement – he loved it!The effect of our spaces on its users has beendiverse and positive. They are ‘safe spaces’ to explore.They are not hampered by outside distractionsand they encourage deep emotional engagementwithin learning. The spaces are designed to stimulateimaginative and creative thinking. They link narrativewith subject knowledge.Schools  have brought together l i teracy,numeracy, ICT and science teaching in our rooms.The rooms encourage a cross curricular approachto learning through creativity.World War Two in WakefieldOur rooms are often used as starting points totopics, and are particularly effective in encouragingstudents to connect emotionally with history.  Howcan we expect pupils to understand the horrorsof life in the blitz when they have no frame ofreference to draw on? A black and white photoin a text book may be historically accurate – butto most 14-year-olds, it seems unrelated to theirexperiences.We worked with a history and a drama teacherwhen we were hired at Kings High School, Wakefield.The students entered the room to find a bombedout building projected on the screen, songs of VeraLynn playing on the sound system and a large pileof materials (cardboard, scissors, bamboo canes)in a single spotlight with an envelope on top.The absence of any instructions from the teacherprovoked discussion among the students – shouldthey open the letter? Unsurprisingly, curiosity gotthe better of them.Inside they found an official letter instructing them tosplit into four ‘families’ (or groups). Using the resourcesin the pile, they each had to construct a simple shelter.The final line in the letter informed the students thatin 15 minutes, an air raid siren would sound – so theirshelters had to be complete.As the siren sounded, the lights darkened andthe projection image changed to a series of Germanbombers. The siren gave way to a soundscape ofdistant explosions and the drone of aircraft engines.The teacher took on the role of narrator, explainingthe passing of time and the events happening aboveground.  Students were encouraged to imagine thefear and anxiety. An ‘all clear’ siren sounded and it wassafe for the students to emerge from their shelters.  Theteacher explained that the town had been badly hitand one of the families had all died.  The young peoplewere asked to consider:How did it feel being in such a confined space?How did you cope with the boredom?What would have happened to your house in theraid?How many of your friends in other shelters survivedthe night?When would the next raid be?This session prompted lots of passionate and informeddiscussion. “I can’t believe people had to go throughthis every day”, one student said. The students also■■■■■Creative classroomwww.teachingtimes.com14 21 Century Schools  Volume 4:1Creative classroomwww.teachingtimes.comasked some important questions – like: “Why didthe war start?” and “Did this actually happen inManchester?”These questions then provided the ‘hook’ for theteacher to explain the context to a class that wasnow engaged in the topic. The project was thendeveloped to teach fractions through food rationing.Students made a war memorial with the art teacherand developed a piece of creative writing about theirexperience in English.Each school uses their room in a different way. Oneschool lets young children at the local Children’s Centreuse the space. Apparently, the baby massage group isin a peaceful state before the activity even begins!INSET TrainingWhat always excites us, once the rooms are installed,is the long term relationships we maintain with eachschool. By delivering INSET training, we stay connectedto our rooms and can see how they add value to theschools using them.In a recent INSET session, we covered the floorwith 40 small boxes of different colours and sizes. Weinvited the teachers to walk into the unknown space.They experienced a projection of moving cloudsand relaxing music. The lighting was soft with a slowmoving ‘chase’ effect – representing ‘movement’and ‘journey’.  We encouraged the group to interactwith the room slowly and open the boxes.  Each boxcontained a small insturuction written on a piece ofpaper… like “Find your feet” or “Remember what lastmade you smile!”After the exercise, we asked the teachers to reflecton their reactions to the boxes and the impact theyfelt the immersive space had on"
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Learning Spaces

Making Spaces

22 Sep 2009

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      string(355) "... Member Exchange(LMX) Theory of Leadership over 25 Years: Applying a Multi-Level Multi-Domain Perspective. Leadership Quarterly 6:2 (1995), pp. 219-247 ■Tolstoy, L. (1869; 1969) War and Peace. Translated by Rosemary Edmonds. Penguin. ■ Uhl-Bien, M and Marion, R. (2009) Complexity Leadershipin Bureaucratic Forms of Organizing ..."
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      string(3870) "chaos……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………➜How to…■■ The Journey from Hero to HostLeaders who journey from hero to host have seen past the negative dynamics of politics and oppositionthat hierarchy breeds, they’ve ignored the organizational charts and role descriptions that confine people’spotential. Instead, they’ve become curious. Who’s in this organization or community? What skills and capacitiesmight they offer if they were invited into the work as full contributors? What do they know, what insights dothey have that might lead to a solution to this problem?Leaders-as-hosts know that people willingly support those things they’ve played a part in creating—thatyou can’t expect people to ‘buy-in’ to plans and projects developed elsewhere. Leaders-as-hosts invest inmeaningful conversations among people from many parts of the system as the most productive way toengender new insights and possibilities for action. They trust that people are willing to contribute, and thatmost people yearn to find meaning and possibility in their lives and work. And these leaders know that hostingothers is the only way to get complex, intractable problems solved.Leaders-as-hosts don’t just benevolently let go and trust that people will do good work on their own Leadershave a great many things to attend to, but these are quite different than the work of heroes. Hosting leaders must:■ provide conditions and good group processes for people to work together.■ provide resources of time, the scarcest commodity of all.■ insist that people and the system learn from experience, frequently.■ offer unequivocal support—people know the leader is there for them.■ keep the bureaucracy at bay, creating oases (or bunkers) where people are less encumbered by senselessdemands for reports and administrivia.■ play defense with other leaders who want to take back control, who are critical that people have beengiven too much freedom.■ reflect back to people on a regular basis how they’re doing, what they’re accomplishing, how far they’ve journeyed.■ work with people to develop relevant measures of progress to make their achievements visible.■ value conviviality and esprit de corps—not false rah-rah activities, but the spirit that arises in any groupthat accomplishes difficult work together.(Wheatley and Frieze, 2011, pages 2-3)References: Graen, G. B. and Uhl-Bien, M. (1995) Relationship-Based Approach to Leadership: Development of Leader-Member Exchange(LMX) Theory of Leadership over 25 Years: Applying a Multi-Level Multi-Domain Perspective. Leadership Quarterly 6:2 (1995), pp. 219-247 ■Tolstoy, L. (1869; 1969) War and Peace. Translated by Rosemary Edmonds. Penguin. ■ Uhl-Bien, M and Marion, R. (2009) Complexity Leadershipin Bureaucratic Forms of Organizing: A Meso Model. The Leadership Quarterly 20:4 (August 2009), pages 631–650 ■ Uhl-Bien, M and Marion,R. and McKelvey, B. (2007) Complexity Leadership Theory: Shifting leadership from the industrial age to the knowledge era. The LeadershipQuarterly 18:4 (August 2007), pages 298-318 ■ Weston, D. (2016) How to turn around a struggling school – ‘don’t use a “super head”. Tweetposted on David Weston@informed_edu August 2016 ■ Wheatley, M (1993) Chaos and Complexity: What can science teach? OrganisationalDevelopment. Fall,1993. ■ Wheatley, M. with Frieze, D. (2011) Leadership in the Age of Complexity: From Hero to Host Resurgence Magazine,Winter, 2011."
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Professional Development

How to … embrace complexity and chaos

12 Sep 2016

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Therewas a special focus on the following emotions (names are ofcharacters Sam has made up):l Grumpy (rage and frustrated interests: real life and BobFilling always in a rage)l Frustration (nearly always ready everyday with an excitingcreative story and everyone else is so slow)l Irritation (between Sam and family and myself)l Argument (head to head confrontation with sister),l Happy but sad underneath’ (as a clown is)l You love me underneath somewhere (Bob Filling when hefalls in love)l Silly (Mad Lottey always makes a fool of herself) ,l Humiliated (judgement and retribution: Mad Lotteyagain). Words not used yetl Hate (all characters at some time).l Fear and insecurity (Bob and Lottey mainly)71Teaching Thinking&Creativity  Winter 2005www.teachthinking.com   creative supportDrawings, story boards, cartoons and collaborativecartoons: These were Sam’s primary activities, taking upthe largest part of his homseschool day. He drew withpen, paper and computer animation programmes. Theseactivities formed a continuum of experience that wasdeeply embedded in, and expressed Sam’s reactions andself identity in an intrepid flow. My conversations about hisdrawings were always authentically curious, praising andencouraging. Out of this positive bonding, the invitation tocollaborate emerged in the early stage of home education.It developed into an exchange of idioms. In collaborativecartoons, my thoughts can transfer, through Sam, to hispersonally-designed cartoon characters. Thus Sam tellsa story of rage and humiliation involving my characterinteracting with one of his characters. Typical moods andendings are thus changed and greater innovation results.The supporter’s roleThis study was about a non-directive approach tolearning that develops enquiry into meaning throughimprovisational and creative arts. 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Theseactivities formed a continuum of experience that wasdeeply embedded in, and expressed Sam’s reactions andself identity in an intrepid flow. My conversations about hisdrawings were always authentically curious, praising andencouraging. Out of this positive bonding, the invitation tocollaborate emerged in the early stage of home education.It developed into an exchange of idioms. In collaborativecartoons, my thoughts can transfer, through Sam, to hispersonally-designed cartoon characters. Thus Sam tellsa story of rage and humiliation involving my characterinteracting with one of his characters. Typical moods andendings are thus changed and greater innovation results.The supporter’s roleThis study was about a non-directive approach tolearning that develops enquiry into meaning throughimprovisational and creative arts. It highlighted a distinctivehelping role, where I attempted to stay as a co-enquirer orsupporting questioner rather than a conventional teacher.I drew on Philosophy for Children and emotional literacydevelopment, which include listening and feeding back forlearning and enquiry. However, it was mainly in improvisedstory and character work that Sam could develop his social,emotional and conceptual tools in his own"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Cartoons Computers and Silly Walks

1 Nov 2006

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      string(384) "... Thinking& Creativity  Vol 8:1  Issue 22Teaching Thinking& Creativity  Vol 8:1  Issue 22  ReferencesFeasey, R. (2005) Creative science – achieving the WOWfactor with 5–11 year olds. London: David Fulton.Harlen, W. (ed.) (2006) ASE Guide to Primary ScienceEducation. Hertfordshire: ASE.Sternberg. R. J. (ed.) (1999) Handbook of Creativity.Cambridge ..."
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      string(3904) "and fun.Take, for example, the topic of electricity. Here is onecreative approach which is easy to use and helps tomotivate children. The children are given badges whichsay ‘Apprentice Classroom Electrician’. The tasks that theyare engaged in develop different aspects of learning, forexample:l	Create a name plate that lights up or has a movingpart.l	Create a ‘crazy circuit’ using objects from around theroom to light a bulb.l	Design and make a moving picture.l	Design and make a buggy which uses a ‘reed switch’ tomake the headlights turn on and off.l	Design and make a game for younger children that usesa circuit.The children complete the different activities and thenreceive mini-certificates when they can show theirachievement to another child, who signs the certificate.This places the assessment responsibility with the childrennot the teacher – it is the child who asks themselves: CanI do this? Am I ready to be assessed?Throughout this creative process both the teacher andthe children should celebrate their thinking and ways ofworking in science. This validates children’s creativity andencourages them to continue to take risks in their thinkingand ways of working. So, statements such as ‘I like the wayyou are thinking’, ‘What a great idea! I would never havethought of that’, ‘That is a really different and creative idea– shall we try it out?’ should be commonplace in primaryscience. In explicitly applauding creativity in science, weare telling children what is important, and encouragingthem to continue to be creative. Teaching Thinking& Creativity  Vol 8:1  Issue 22Teaching Thinking& Creativity  Vol 8:1  Issue 22 41www.teachthinking.com   focus on scienceTeaching Thinking& Creativity  Vol 8:1  Issue 22Teaching Thinking& Creativity  Vol 8:1  Issue 22  ReferencesFeasey, R. (2005) Creative science – achieving the WOWfactor with 5–11 year olds. London: David Fulton.Harlen, W. (ed.) (2006) ASE Guide to Primary ScienceEducation. Hertfordshire: ASE.Sternberg. R. J. (ed.) (1999) Handbook of Creativity.Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.NACCCE (1999) All Our Futures: creativity, culture andeducation. London: DfEE.  WebsitesThe Chemical Industry Education Centre www.ciec.org.ukNational Advisory Committee on Creative and CulturalEducation. www.dfes.gov.uk/naccceQCA Creativity in the national Curriculum:www.ncaction.org.ukThe importance of a whole-school approachAdopting approaches to ensure that children developtheir creative potential in science has only a limited impactwhen confined to one enthusiastic teacher. Only whenall members of staff work to shared basic principles willthere be a sustained impact on children’s learning andthe likelihood that teaching and learning will contributeto realising the potential of children. Developing a learningculture where there is a partnership between teachersand children is central to achieving a creative teachingand learning environment in science. Sharing goals andsuccesses, and encouraging independence and risk takingin science, should be the norm, not the exception.Rosemary Feasey is a freelance science consultantTeaching Thinking & Creativity Archive CDThe entire archive of articles from 21 editions of Teaching Thinking and Creativity magazine is now available on CD. This is a valuableresource for professional development at all key stages and youhave permission to copy the articles for use in your own school. Thearticles are sorted into useful categories for your convenience.Over 300 articles for professional developmentTo order call: 01904 431 213 Fax orders: 01904 430 868n Teaching Thinking CD Archive: £95.00(Includes Free one-year subscription to TeachingThinking & Creativity Magazine)n Teaching Thinking CD Archive: £50.00(Special price for current subscribers)"
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Creative Teaching & Learning

Creative Investigations In Science

27 Mar 2007