Teachers\u27 Instructional Decisions and Student Agency in new Purposefully Designed Learning Spaces

Learning that promotes student agency and active, cognitive student engagement has a positive impact on students’ self-efficacy, learning, and achievement. When designing lessons that foster student agency and active engagement, educators must consider multiple variables, including the space where learning will take place. In order to understand how students perceive the impact of spaces in learning and how designed areas are being used by teachers, a qualitative study was conducted at a newly designed energy industry-focused high school. This manuscript presents the students\u27 perspectives related to student agency, the value of learning, students\u27 role in their learning, and how cognitively challenging lessons influence their engagement in learning. The authors argue that the teachers’ instructional decisions and their use of purposefully designed spaces have an impact on students’ engagement and their ownership of learning

Listening to High School Students: Purposefully Designed Spaces and the Impact on Students’ Engagement in Learning

Scholars have generally accepted the notion that context and students’ response to the environment influence their engagement in learning. Hence, a qualitative study was conducted to explore the impact purposefully designed learning spaces have on student engagement in a career-inspired high school. Focus groups were conducted before and after the move to a new high school. Through the group interviews, students engaged in discourse about the impact purposefully designed learning spaces have on their engagement in learning. The findings indicate that the students recognized the instructional importance and the impact of their new spaces. The student voices provide educators and architects insight into the design elements students value. For educators, the student voice informs educational processes and has implications for curricular design and delivery, leveraging purposely designed learning spaces and student preferences to achieve the best education possible. For architects, and other design professionals, these student voices detail the types of spaces that should be incorporated in order to ensure learning efficiency, learning preferences, and interdependenc