Designing An Ideal Classroom Environment For Children

Dimensions of Teaching and Learning

This Book is developed to broaden the knowledge of learners, regarding appropriate room designing for children. Researchers have identified the importance of proper room planning in improving various aspects of children. It is observed that emotional detachment with parents/ teachers/ caregivers have become a significant issue in modern day context. Multiple reasons have been found behind the incapability of parents/ teachers/ caregivers to bridge an emotional link with children (Rathus, 2013). These include financial strain, depression, the parent in attendance and much more. This behaviour of parents/ teachers/ caregivers creates a sense of neglect amongst children. Abandonment can be perceived from different shapes such are lack of housing, food, and love (Baker, 2017). Hence, my planned room will feed the physical and emotional needs of children in a positive manner.

Attention has been considered as one of the major components that is needed for the development of children. It is identified that caregivers and parents/ teachers/ caregivers should create a schedule for conducting a focused interaction with children. This room will provide the space to parents/ teachers/ caregivers and caregivers for spending quality time with children. I can say that my designed room will test the creativity and flexibility of parents/ teachers/ caregivers properly.

 It is observed that color plays a vital role in influencing the psychology of human being. Hence, this idea applies to children and parents/ teachers/ caregivers also. Therefore, to gain children’s attention, I have asked a warm and bright color combination for winning the care of children. Simultaneously, the application of green color on the north side of this room will enhance the attraction of both children and parents/ teachers/ caregivers.

I have also left space for parents/ teachers/ caregivers and children to eliminate issues of understanding. From a recent report, it is observed that children hesitate to disclose personal problems with their mentors, because of lack of trust. It is identified that this lack of confidence can increase from the fear of punishment. It is noticed that children at the preschool stage tend to develop learning through the form of scattered writing or painting (Childcareframework, 2014). Therefore, I have planned to apply a different type of covering that would disallow children to spoil the essence of any wall. As a result, it will develop a sense of trust between children and their mentors. Also, this book will also fulfill the physical needs of children in an appropriate manner. It is observed that adequate shelter and sleep are two significant factors that nourish the physical development of children. Hence, this room will critically help children to gain much space for early physical activities. For this reason, a minimum number of daily stuff will ensure my dream program environment (Garbrino, 2017).

Besides this, I would also consider five dimensions of education and learning in developing my dream environment program. These five dimensions are:

• Purpose: This dimension reflects on providing meaningful and relevant lessons, which can be assessed significantly.
• Student engagement: Three significant ways available to engage students substantially. These include:
  • Intellectual work: This includes reading, thinking, problem-solving abilities and much more
  • Engagement strategies: Culture, Language and academic backgrounds play an important role in demonstrating proper engagement strategies (Deutsch, 2015)
  • Talk: It is observed that interaction needs to be adequately conducted as it helps to eliminate multiple issues like confidence, trust and much more. Therefore, the elimination of such problems is a significant sub-dimension of teaching and learning development (Clark, 2017).
• Curriculum and Pedagogy: Instructional materials can be listed in this section. It is observed that this dimension allows teachers to relate to a larger unit of learners. As identified by Dombro, Jablon & Stetson (2011), this dimension can be enhanced through the implementation of proper instructional strategies.
• Assessment of student learning: This dimension is crucial as it ensures teachers to assess the learning process of students. Furthermore, application of observable systems and routine for recordings are also vital for implementing this step successfully (EQI, 2018).
• Classroom environment and culture:  This dimension is highly dependent on the physical arrangement of rooms as it is crucial for conductive learning of any student. Also, classroom interactions also play a pivotal role in developing the teaching and learning process of children (Steinberg & Darling, 2017).

Appropriate engagement of students is necessary for developing a collaborative environment in a classroom scenario (Epstein et al. 2018). Communication has been interpreted as a significant factor that ensures better engagement of individuals. This idea is also applicable in this context. Interaction with children often becomes tough for teachers or parents due to specific reasons. As identified by Ross (2016), professional development and emotional intelligence are two significant factors that allow teachers to interact with children properly. Hence, this room has been designed by focusing on the matter of student engagement. Henceforth, my dream environment would allow children to:

1. Identify the learning opportunities
2. Develop a relationship with teachers and parents
3. Achieve benefit through this dimension

Examples of Supporting Children

Pedagogy and curriculum is also a significant aspect of the teaching and learning principle (Bolman & Deal, 2017). Hence, I have applied the cooperative learning strategy to ensure a better classroom environment. Therefore, this room is segregated into three subsections, which will allow teachers to create small groups. It is identified that creating small groups would help children to achieve a common goal.

Despite these two dimensions, I have also focused on enhancing the classroom environment and culture, which researchers have identified as a significant aspect of this discussed dimension.  According to Rosenbarg (2015), an elementary classroom requires a proper demonstration of knowledge of psychology and creativity. Hence, classroom design has been considered as crucial as they influence the psychological probe of children.  For this reason, I have correctly arranged furniture like table, chair, blackboard, projector and many more to gain the attention of children. The primary idea behind the appropriate arrangement of furniture and creating a dream environment is to correlate with the behavioral activities of children.

Parent involvement during the education of children has been identified as a significant agenda for modern day teachers. A recent survey has determined that almost two-thirds of the teachers have identified that engagement of parents plays a decisive role in developing the learning process of children. Hence, I have crafted several ideas, which could invite parents to participate in the learning process of children.

Presenting parents as the individual class readers: It is observed that reading has been interpreted as one of the significant activities that allow children to grow significantly. To engage parents in the classroom setting, I left some spaces for parents, from where they can understand the learning process of their children. However, it is also important to know that it would become tough for parents to attend the learning progress of their children. To overcome this issue, I have applied wireless interest connectivity in this room, which in a way ensures the importance of the presence of parents online.

Besides this, I have also focused on the significance of the physical appearance of parents in the classroom. To achieve my aim, I have shifted my plan from weekdays (Monday to Friday) to the weekend (Saturday). This learning class will be conducted during lunch when the parents might attend the classes. Besides this, I have also developed a plan for parents’ room, where parents can come and discuss with teachers about the collaborative learning procedure of children. This will help parents to review the development process of children in a helpful manner.

The home environment has been approved as a significant factor that influences the cultural and social well-being of children significantly. It is observed that the home environment and classroom environment plays a decisive role in the personality development of children. While home environment reflects on the healthy aspects, classroom environment feeds the psychological needs of children (Dombro, Jablon & Stetson, 2011). This developed science room would also reflect on the family, social and cultural practices of every child. In modern day world, discrimination has been termed as a harmful practice that influences the overall progress of any country. Examples can be drawn from developing countries like India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, where gender and ethnic discrimination issue have taken the form of a plague. The same has been cited in the developed countries also. For instance, UK is also known for racial discrimination in workplace and education. Hence, to eliminate such possibilities, I would paint the name of different cultures and their importance. This will help students to respect every religion and culture significantly. Also, a weekly discussion organized by classroom teachers will also improve the environment significantly.  

Creating an Inviting Space for Parent Participation

It is found that a good educator creates wonder among the children by presenting unexpected to children. According to Pecora et al. (2017), admiration motivates students to learn any subject or topic mostly. This sense of wonder also generates the attention of students in a significant manner. Hence, to create the sense of wonder, encouragement, exploration and learning amongst children in the classroom, I would develop creative stuff to amaze children. I believe that wonder can be generated from small and intriguing behaviours of children. Hence, I can create a marshmallow challenge or any arcade activities to develop curiosity and encouragement among children. Besides this, I would also encourage students by promoting play, which is also essential for the development of cognitive skills of children.

Similarly. Hence, more focus would be given in creating recess time for pre-schoolers and middle schoolers. However, it is important to say that students will not be forced to play. The environment would allow students to explore multiple playing opportunities, which in turn will not create a monotonous situation amongst the mind of students. Furthermore, it will also ensure students to raise questions about multiple playing activities, which are essential for idea generation and exploration of knowledge of children. Hence, to assess the confidence of students and their abilities, I would develop an inquiry-based project, which will also help me to create many opportunities for children. Hence, I have selected to increase the creativity of my designed science room. In this regard, I can say that I will also develop some scientific experiments for students, which will generate supreme interest amongst the children.  In this way, my dream environment will demonstrate knowledge of science and will influence them positively.

Developing wonder and sense of encouragement amongst children is not an easy task. Some necessary materials need to be included to generate positive outcomes. Hence, I would provide the following documents to increase their understanding of space:

• Boxes
• Cushions
• Safe objects for climbing
• Magnets
• Magnifying lenses
• Props and Toys

These provided materials will be organised and produced in a specific manner for increasing a child-centered perspective. Boxes, cushions and climbing objects will be placed in front of the student. These will allow children to crawl into, over and outside of these materials. Besides this, these materials will also increase the skill activities of children, which are essential for maintaining a child-centered perspective. Besides this, materials of scientific activities will also ensure the understanding of theories. It can be said that these activities will allow children to make their opinions regarding any object. Furthermore, these will increase the knowledge of children regarding the dimension of any project. As a result, it can be concluded that provided materi8als will help students to maintain a pivotal care perspective.

It is observed that learning through play has become a significant approach for children in the modern day wold. Current day schools are providing video lessons to improve the visual effects and social skills of children. However, I would identify a child as a mighty learner if I found the following traits:

• The child has a great interest in physical activities, imaging power and a knack of interpretation of any learning. It is observed that imagination power and ability to express makes him a mighty learner (Banks, 2015)
• Asking many questions. This shows that the child has a great  curiosity that can be fulfilled by knowledge
• Participating and persisting ability of any child will improve my understanding of a mighty learner

I think that my developed environment will be significantly able to communicate with the image of a child as a mighty learner. It is observed that the picture of a child as a mighty learner is substantially dependent on the expression of feelings and ideas. Therefore, my developed environment with a creative room will ensure the appropriateness of the children in a similar manner. Besides this, my creation of wonder activities will also feed mighty learners to fulfil their quench of knowledge. Furthermore, significant interaction with the application of a sense of humour will also help me to communicate with the mighty learners in the classroom. Finally. I can say that the involvement of students in different activities will also increase the observation ability of mightily learners, which in a way will help me to communicate with them effectively.  

References

Baker, K. (2017). Taking Care of Child’s Physical, Emotional Needs is Essential, Youth 20 First. Retrieved from https://youthfirstinc.org/taking-care-childs-physical-emotional-needs-essential/

Banks, J. A. (2015). Cultural diversity and education. Abingdon: Abingdon: Routledge.

Bolman, L. G., & Deal, T. E. (2017). Reframing organizations: Artistry, choice, and leadership. London: John Wiley & Sons.

Childcareframework (2014). Play, Participation, And Possibilities: An Early Learning and Child Care Curriculum Framework for Alberta. Retrieved from https://childcareframework.com/resources/Play,%20Participation,%20and%20Possibilities%20-%20An%20Early%20Learning%20and%20Child%20Care%20Curriculum%. %20for%20Alberta.pdf

Clark, A. (2017). Listening to Young Children, Expanded Third Edition: A Guide to Understanding and Using the Mosaic Approach. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Deutsch, M. (2015). Educating for a peaceful world. In Morton Deutsch: Major Texts on Peace Psychology (pp. 89-103). Springer, Cham.

Dombro, A. L., Jablon, J. R., & Stetson, C. (2011). Powerful interactions: How to connect with children to extend their learning. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Epstein, J. L., Sanders, M. G., Sheldon, S. B., Simon, B. S., Salinas, K. C., Jansorn, N. R., … & Hutchins, D. J. (2018). School, family, and community partnerships: Your handbook for action. London: Corwin Press.

EQI (2018). Top Ten Emotional Needs of Children and Adults. Retrieved from https://www.eqi.org/top_10_emotional_needs.htm

Garbarino, J. (2017). Children and Families in the Social Environment: Modern Applications of Social Work. Abingdon: Routledge.

MHA (2018). What Every Child Needs For Good Mental Health. Retrieved from https://www.mentalhealthamerica.net/every-child-needs

Pecora, P., Whittaker, J., Barth, R., Maluccio, A. N., DePanfilis, D., & Plotnick, R. D. (2017). The child welfare challenge: Policy, practice, and research. Abingdon: Routledge.

Rathus, S. A. (2013). Childhood and adolescence: Voyages in development. Cengage Learning.

Rosenberg, M. (2015). Society and the adolescent self-image. New Jersey: Princeton university press.

Ross, A. (2016). No respect: Intellectuals and popular culture. Abingdon: Routledge.

Steinberg, L., & Darling, N. (2017). Parenting style as context: An integrative model. In Interpersonal Development (pp. 161-170). Abingdon: Routledge.