Impact of classroom design on teacher pedagogy and student engagement and performance in mathematics

A resurgence in interest in classroom and school design has highlighted how little we know about the impact of learning environments on student and teacher performance. This is partly because of a lack of research methods capable of controlling the complex variables inherent to space and education. In a unique study that overcame such difficulties by using a single-subject research design in one Queensland school, open and flexible classroom arrangements, together with an infusion of one-on-one technologies, improved student perceptions of the quality of teaching and students’ levels of engagement. Separate statistical analysis also indicated significant differences in these students’ performance in mathematics when compared to like peers in more ‘traditional’ classrooms. The paper ends with a caution; on these measures, the classroom design is certainly one, but probably not the only, influence.