PROJECT
Student Engagement Via
15 Weeks Of Destabilized
Seating Configuration
ASSIGNMENT TYPE
Scaffolding Exercise
COURSE
Any
INSTRUCTOR
Eddie Villanueva
FDC OUTCOMES
Core Concepts/ Language
Community
OBJECTIVES
Increase Student
Participation and Agency
Explore Spatial Dynamics
in Classroom
MATERIALS/TOOLS
Class Roster
Flexible Classroom Space
CONSIDERATIONS
Health and Safety
Accessibility
DOWNLOAD
Eddie Villanueva
ASSIGNMENT DESCRIPTION
Prior to the start of each session, the instructor purposefully and playfully rearranges the seating and thus the positioning of students and teacher in the classroom.
Objectives: to generate a heightened awareness of how interior spaces are embedded in a web of power relations that influence our behavior; to disrupt the traditional top-down model of academic learning, and instead foster independent, critical thinking and an active engagement with the material offered.
PROCESS
● Gather your information on the types of seating available, the suggested location of the students, teacher and of visual aides (screens, displays, chalkboards, etc.), the number of students are in your class.
● Make a list of seating possibilities.
● Change the arrangement prior to class; some suggestions:
○ Reconfigure chairs/ tables into a variety of unique shapes
or patterns that change on a weekly basis;
○ Try lecturing at different locations each day;
○ Do away with provided furniture altogether;
○ Have students create encampments or choose their own seating arrangements;
● You may choose to reveal this exercise early on or later in the semester. If students notice and confront you, reward them for their awareness. Be attentive to their responses and adjust accordingly.
● Contextualize the exercise within the broader context of education and the way we learn in particular.
● Encourage students to submit an end of semester reflection on their experience. Prompts:
How did the experience challenge their expectations? Did this have an effect on their willingness to participate in class? Did it change the way they learned? Did it challenge feelings of comfort, stability, normalcy? Which arrangements did they
prefer and why?