Essentials Magazine Essentials Spring 2018 | Page 27

Learning Spaces
Fig. 4. Fluid / Student-centric Emphasis
individual, then small group and back
to whole group again. As equipment
and access to tools are most often
needed, this type of space may be
designed supporting fixed to flexible
solutions.
This article has explored the
language given to F 3 , or fixed, flexi-
ble and fluid, in an attempt to align
design language to the language of
teaching strategies. The bottom line
is both design and pedagogy solu-
tions need all three F’s; essential for
appropriate advanced learning solu-
tions. However, we seem to have a
design predisposition to the fixed and
the flexible ones. It is further argued
here to be truly active as an educator
and to have students actively engage
in their learning processes, we
need to push the boundaries of
fluid. Easy access and ability to
follow content wherever it may be
displayed, shared, talked about
could be a new driver. As active
learning practices increase in more
advanced learning places, it is ever
more important to allow for fluid
and quick transitions from individual
work to small group work and
back again.
n
DR. LENNIE has pioneered research strate-
gies addressing how the built environment
impacts student engagement factors and
learner success, and has designed future-fo-
cused, evidence-based design applications
for 20+ years. Currently, she is the Owner /
Principal of INSYNC: Education Research +
Design. She is also acting as the Education
Research Leader
for DLR Group’s
K12 Education
Practice. She
was formerly
the founding
Director of
Education
Environments
Globally for
Steelcase Edu-
cation; tenured,
full-professor and chair of two design
schools; Director of the iLAB Research Center,
Radford University; professional interior de-
signer, author, published researcher, national
and international speaker.
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