A core pillar of the Toowoomba Grammar School Strategic Plan is to provide an inspiring and broad curriculum for all boys, adopting technology and innovative pedagogy to transform learning outcomes. Over the last couple of years, the COVID-19 pandemic has prompted teachers to explore new frontiers of pedagogy, adapting to the difficult circumstances by launching interactive software, digitising trusty, tried and true resources, recording our lessons, flipping our classrooms, and cultivating an online presence that was, for most of us, a world away from what our initial teacher training had prepared us for. Teams™ meetings were set up. Channels were created. And we did our level best to project the passion that we hold for our subject matter and our students into our laptops, through the ether, and into our virtual classrooms… assuming of course that we hadn’t accidentally muted ourselves at the start of our lessons.

This strange new world of online and hybrid learning would not have been possible without innovations in digital technology, a key component of our Strategic Plan. Yet in the many conversations I have had with my colleagues, a single perspective has clearly emerged… our experiences in the virtual space have led to an even greater appreciation for the physical space. The students and teachers spend so much time in the classroom that it’s very easy to overlook the effect of the physical environment on the learning process, but when a makeover opportunity arises, it’s amazing to witness the transformation that can occur.

Constructed in 1981, the Barbour classroom block (named after G. P. Barbour, Headmaster 1910-1935) is the hub for Mathematics and Languages classes at Toowoomba Grammar School. When they were first built, the austere classrooms featured exposed brick walls and, reflective of a bygone era of pedagogy, a raised timber platform, directing attention to the Master at the front of the room. Over the years, various modernisations were implemented; the stages were removed, creating a more open space, and carpet was affixed to the interior walls, improving the acoustics but doing little to address the lack of natural light. Classrooms were completely separated from each other, and the common spaces in the building were there only to allow the flow of people between rooms.

At the end of 2021, the School embarked on an initiative to modernise and transform the learning spaces in Barbour block. Informed by the experience of the Roberts block refurbishment several years earlier, the architects and design team planned out an educational environment that was formal enough to facilitate a direct instruction approach, yet flexible enough to encourage genuine collaboration within and between classrooms. The most obvious result of this refurbishment was the opening up of the entire building, both literally (through additional entry points in the downstairs classrooms) and figuratively (through the replacement of interior brick walls with glass and the clever harnessing of natural light in the upstairs foyer).

More subtle perhaps were the changes to the classrooms themselves. Thomas, Pavlechko and Cassady (2019) define an ‘Interactive Learning Space’ (ILS) as a “specialised environment designed to encourage the implementation of instructional practices consistent with constructivist and connectivist philosophies” (p. 119). Although the large whiteboards and interactive flat panel monitors make the Barbour classrooms ideal for expository teaching, visit the rooms and you are likely to see features of an ILS at work – small groups of students gathered around the many whiteboards, formulating a mathematical solution together, or moving around the classroom to attempt a series of challenge questions. Furniture can be easily reconfigured, and even the desk surfaces double up as whiteboards. Breakout rooms provide additional opportunities for group work, and perhaps my favourite addition to the architecture is the booth layout in the upstairs foyer, allowing for extension or remedial instruction and student collaboration, even from a number of different classes simultaneously.

The provision of interactive flat panel monitors at the front of the rooms has offered a significant upgrade over the old-style projectors. Not only do these monitors integrate seamlessly with OneNote, but they also present exciting opportunities for students and teachers to explore mathematical concepts interactively. In a 2021 meta-analysis, Juandi and colleagues found that the classroom use of dynamic geometry software such as Geogebra has a high positive effect on students’ mathematical abilities. When you combine the interactivity of the classroom monitors and student laptops, mathematics can really come to life.

There’s no doubt that the Barbour block refurbishment, with its flexible and open learning spaces, allows for the provision of a knowledge-rich curriculum with a focus on core discipline skills and understandings, a key element of the Strategic Plan. More than anything else, however, it has made our classrooms an even more comfortable and pleasant environment in which to work and learn.

References

Juandi, D., Kusumah, Y. S., Tamur, M., Perbowo, K. S., Siagian, M. D., Sulastri, R., & Negara, H. R. P. (2021). The Effectiveness of Dynamic Geometry Software Applications in Learning Mathematics: A Meta-Analysis Study. International Journal of Interactive Mobile Technologies (iJIM), 15(02), 18–37.

Thomas, C., Pavlechko, G., and Cassady, J. (2019). An examination of the mediating role of learning space design on the relation between instructor effectiveness and student engagement. Learning Environments Research, 22: 117-131.

Toowoomba Grammar School. (2022). Strategic Plan 2022-2026. Retrieved from https://www.twgs.qld.edu.au/we...