In a conventional classroom, students spend most of their time listening to a teacher. I should say hearing the teacher. This is because conventional classrooms lack interactivity and therefore the learning environment is not fully able to engage students in the learning process. The situation worsens when the teacher is not trained enough to produce a stimulating and inspiring learning experience for the students.
Therefore classrooms should be designed in such a way that they not only inspire and stimulate the learning but also induce interactivity and fun. This can be done by introducing modern teaching tools in the classroom like visualizers, projectors, interactive whiteboards, interactive panels, student response system, voting systems etc. All these tools promote collaborative efforts and facilitate personalized learning by allowing students and teachers to develop there own learning/ teaching programs, set there own goals and access there own performance.
To further support these changes, smaller classrooms of 5 to 10 students should be built. They should be well lighted and well ventilated and should not be sensitive to weather conditions. For e.g. a classroom should not be too cold during winter or too hot during summer. The interactive whiteboard should be placed in such way that its surface doesn’t reflect the light coming either coming from sun or a lamp. There should be a drinking facility in the classroom and it should not contain any distractions like decorative items, wall hangings, paintings, pictures etc. Event the learning material like maps which is not presently in use should not be held for manifestation. Promoting the feeling of motivation, enthusiasm and well being should be the top most priority while designing classrooms.
By: Himanshu Sharma
© 2010 Literacy Education
