Active Learning Spaces: New Directions for Teaching and Learning (2015)

Textbook Details: Active Learning Spaces: New Directions for Teaching and Learning Edited by Paul Baepler, D. Christopher Brooks and J. D. Walker Catherine M. Wehlburg, Editor-in-Chief Wiley Periodicals, Inc., A Wiley Company ISBN 978-1-118-87011-2 Active learning spaces are redesigned spaces in which the development of the students' creative and critical thinking can be improved through appropriately designed teaching and learning activities. Traditionally designed rooms cannot satisfy the teaching needs because the seating arrangement is inflexible and the spaces lack the necessary conditions to carry out pedagogical practices that aim to increase the students' capacity of problem solving, communication, and collaboration. Therefore, colleges and universities are actively restructuring learning spaces on the basis of twenty-first century pedagogies and technologies and exploring the effects of these environments on teaching practices and student learning through scientific researches in recent years. This book is the 137th volume of New Directions for Teaching and Learning. It provides us with detailed experiences of instructors and the latest findings of educational researchers about active learning spaces, aiming to encourage researchers to continue exploring the value of these rooms and define the future research directions in higher education. This volume covers 10 chapters besides EDITORS' NOTES, each of which is an independent paper and written by different scholars. The editors think these chapters can be divided into the following three categories: historical perspectives on learning spaces, practical reflection, and empirical research. Historical perspectives are mainly about the origins of classrooms and major improvements in history. Practical reflection focuses on the obstacles arising for instructors and the adaption of technology-enhanced classrooms by faculty members. The empirical research introduces a series of systematic researches of active learning spaces to illustrate the educational implications of high-tech classrooms. EDITORS' NOTES present a literature review of learning spaces research. North Carolina State University first initiated the Student-Centered Activities for Large Enrollment Undergraduate Programs (SCALE-UP) project in the 1900s. Then, MIT began the Technology Enabled Active Learning (TEAL) project partly and carried out teaching practices concerning physics. Both the universities found that the newly designed spaces improved students' levels of conceptual understanding and reduced failure rates than traditional lecture-based rooms though their research design lacked strict controls. Therefore, the University of Minnesota conceived a quasi-experimental design, which afforded us rigorous controls with the results that students indeed performed better in newly designed rooms. Chapter 1 entitled History and Evolution of Active Learning Spaces, belongs to the first category--historical perspectives on learning spaces. The reason why learning spaces should change is that the world is different, and so are the students. The professor is no longer the only source of knowledge because information is accessible everywhere now with the advent of smartphones, tablets, and other digital devices. When teachers gradually realize that their students were not learning as much as they expected from the lecture approach, some new collaborative learning techniques, such as problem-based learning (PBL) and interactive lecture demo (ILD), are incorporated into their classes. Studios that combine lecture classes and lab experiences have recently been used in science, technology, math, and engineering (STEM) classes successfully. More and more institutions have begun new construction activities and the refitting of learning spaces where students can learn actively and collaboratively on carefully designed tasks to facilitate the interactions between students and teachers. …