smata-note: care
Lella Gandini says learning environments should convey the message that
“…this is a place where adults have thought about the quality and the instructive power of space.”
Adults should have thoughts about quality. There’s ideas about care that sit underneath that isn’t there. And the quality doesn’t reside in the newness of the furniture and how well it’s made, it’s in the ‘instructive power’. In other words, the learning potential inherent in an environment. So, according to Gandini, a learning environment should say to the learners, I care about your learning and potential for growth.
How can environment do this? Well, if all you’ve got are desks and chairs and few posters it’s tough. And while LEGO and play dough may help, it’s not quite that simple either.
For an environment to convey care about someone’s growth, they need to see something of themselves in it. They need to feel noticed, listened to, thought about. This is why invitations / provocations are powerful: in picking up on an interest of the learner and hinting at a way forward they say, I notice you, I care about your growth. I don’t think anyone outgrows that message.
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