Learning Environment on the Move: First Design Concepts to Embrace Embodied Learning in Secondary Education

Abstract

Embodied learning is a recent educational approach that combines learning with simultaneous execution of physical activity. It can enhance well-being and academic performances of pupils. However, in contemporary secondary educational settings, the conventional practice still involves students receiving instruction while being seated. A crucial goal therein is to explore whether classrooms of secondary education schools, given their current architectural design and construction, can embrace the implementation of embodied learning. In pursuit of this goal, a two-track exploratory study was conducted: 1) surfacing which architectural elements in the current classroom environment encourage or restrict the execution of embodied learning, and 2) developing solution-oriented design ideas to facilitate embodied learning. The research focused on secondary school classrooms in Flanders and considered the perspectives of both students and teachers. The results indicated that current classroom environments are not yet optimally equipped to facilitate all forms of embodied learning. However, the solution-oriented designs represented design alterations on diverse architectural scale levels to modify classroom environments, making them more welcoming to embodied learning principles. This exploratory study underscores the need for a more comprehensive focus on embodied learning implementation, the required design adaptations, and further exploration of it.