Affordances, Architecture and the Action Possibilities of Learning Environments: A Critical Review of the Literature and Future Directions

This paper critically reviews the body of literature on affordances relating to the design and inhabitation of school buildings. Focusing on the influence of learning spaces on pedagogical practices, we argue that links between affordances, architecture and the action possibilities of school-based environments have largely been overlooked and that such links hold great promise for better aligning space and pedagogy—especially amidst changing expectations of what effective teaching and learning ‘looks like’. Emerging innovative learning environments (ILEs) are designed to enable a wider pedagogical repertoire than traditional classrooms. In order to transcend stereotypical understandings about how the physical environment in schools may afford teaching and learning activities, it is becoming increasingly recognised that both design and practice reconceptualisation is required for affordances of new learning environments to be effectively actualised in support of contemporary education. With a focus on the environmental perceptions of architects, educators and learners, we believe affordance theory offers a useful framework for thinking about the design and use of learning spaces. We argue that Gibson’s affordance theory should be more commonly applied to help situate conversations between designers and users about how physical learning environments are conceived, perceived and actioned for effective teaching and learning.

Collaborative Learning Environments for Autistic Children in the Inclusive School

One of the major challenges facing inclusive education for children with ASD is the identification and the removal of barriers of learning, ranging from attitudinal barriers to those related to how we organize workspaces and the conception of educational resources. The collaborative approach is one of the most effective ways of learning, and it has the benefit to develop the culture of inclusion in schools. In fact, the major challenge of the system is to personalize the educational therapeutic approach, respectively to create learning environments that generate meaningful learning experiences for each beneficiary. When the authors refer to the personalization of inclusive learning environments during pandemic period, they think both of indoor environments, but also of outdoor environments, as well as virtual environments, models of innovative practices regarding the preparation and organization of personalized collaborative spaces both in classrooms and also in learning spaces from the community, having a multi-, inter-, and transdisciplinary approach in order to develop life skills.

Preparing Teachers for the Post-COVID Era

This chapter examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on existing learning spaces and emerging learning spaces. The authors address the need to restructure teacher education programs to prepare teachers for flexible teaching in various modalities. Throughout this book chapter, the authors anchor their positions using research-based literature, highlighting the need for new and emerging spaces to ensure the learner's diversity about content delivery, student experience, and the management of these learning spaces. Additionally, the authors provide a critical overview of the need to redesign learning spaces to accommodate learning as learning and knowledge assessments. The chapter concludes by providing readers with a framework anchored on the teacher enterprise domain designed to evaluate and examine new and emerging learning spaces within the context of teacher, structure, content, and learners.

Interactive Multimedia Experiences in Higher Education

This chapter presents experiences in using gaming and interactive media in higher education environments since 2017 culminating in the 2020/21 years when the COVID-19 pandemic forced teachers and students to adopt different work methodologies. Participatory design strategies merged with a tradition of critical and interdisciplinary studies in humanities mediated by online technologies helped shape these strategies enhanced by the cooperation from three different faculties from Lisbon University in Portugal (Universidade de Lisboa, UL), namely FBAUL, IST, and IGOT. The aim of these experiments was to augment the potential for innovation and research taking advantage of gaming research methodologies to involve teachers and students in a common context. This chapter also shows research done in interactive media, augmented and virtual reality, game art, and gender equity. The year 2020 showed how institutional collaboration can open learning spaces to a more focused approach on the interests of young people and to promote a more sustainable and dynamic future.

A Organização do Ensino de Álgebra: Contribuições da Atividade Orientadora de Ensino

ResumoAs constantes dificuldades manifestadas por estudantes em relação à aprendizagem do conhecimento algébrico têm provocado a necessidade de repensar o processo de organização do ensino deste conteúdo. Nesse sentido, grupos de pesquisas vinculados às Instituições de Ensino Superior se debruçaram nesta temática e aqui serão destacadas as pesquisas de membros do Grupo de Estudos e Pesquisa sobre a Atividade Pedagógica (GEPAPe), coordenado pelo professor Dr. Manoel Oriosvaldo de Moura, junto ao departamento de Educação da Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Assim, neste artigo serão analisadas as contribuições da Atividade Orientadora de Ensino para a organização do ensino de álgebra, a partir das produções do GEPAPe. Para o cumprimento deste objetivo foram buscados textos na forma de artigos, de livros, de capítulos de livros e anais de eventos que foram selecionados a partir da plataforma lattes de cada um dos pesquisadores deste grupo. Como resultado foi possível reconhecer que as produções revelam a compreensão sobre a álgebra e seu ensino sustentadas pelo estudo do movimento dialético histórico e lógico visando o desenvolvimento dos nexos conceituais do conhecimento algébrico e o desenvolvimento do pensamento teórico dos estudantes, superando o reconhecimento empírico e aparente do simbolismo algébrico. Tal compreensão sobre a organização do ensino de álgebra se materializa por meio das Situações Desencadeadoras de Aprendizagem (Situação Emergente do Cotidiano; Jogo; História Virtual do Conceito), que são desenvolvidas em espaços de aprendizagem como Clubes de Matemática e Oficinas Pedagógicas de Matemática em diferentes instituições brasileiras. Palavras-chave: AOE. GEPAPe. Situação Desencadeadora de Aprendizagem. AbstractThe constant difficulties expressed by students regarding learning algebraic knowledge have led to the need to rethink the teaching organizing process of this content. Thus, research groups linked to Higher Education Institutions, focused on this theme and the research will be highlighted of the Study and Research Group on Pedagogical Activity members (GEPAPe), coordinated by Professor Dr. Manoel Oriosvaldo de Moura, with the Department of Education at the University of São Paulo (USP). Thus, in this article, the Teaching Guidance Activity contributions to the algebra teaching organization will be analyzed, based on the GEPAPe productions. To fulfill this objective, texts were sought in the form of articles, books, book chapters and event proceedings that were selected from the lattes platform of each of the researchers in this group. As a result, it was possible to recognize that the productions reveal the understanding of algebra and its teaching supported by the study of the historical and logical dialectical movement aiming at the development of the conceptual nexus of algebraic knowledge and the students' theoretical thinking development, surpassing the empirical and apparent recognition of algebraic symbolism. This understanding of the algebra teaching organization is materialized through the Learning Trigger Situations (Emerging Situation of Everyday Life; Game; Virtual History of the Concept), which are developed in learning spaces such as Math Clubs and Mathematics Pedagogical Workshops in different institutions Brazilian companies. Keywords: AOE. GEPAPe. Learning Triggering Situation.