Learning as a spatial act

In this sense, learning depends on the environment that encourages these relationships. We move, socialise and learn in physical spaces (built or otherwise), even if the vehicle for learning is a digital channel. And that physical space, while designed and shaped by us with a particular goal in mind, also shapes our behaviours. In essence, space functions both as a dependent variable and an independent variable in our behaviours. On the one hand, it affects how it is used, in the sense that it predisposes us towards certain behaviours or actions (we know that if we are going to attend a class, we are likely to sit facing the board rather than next to the pulpit). On the other hand, it is designed and moulded by us for the function to which we want to subject it.

It is not decisive, but it guides us. Therefore, in some rooms we feel that we work better, in others there is no concentration possible, even in absolute silence. There are spaces where we know intuitively where the message we are going to receive will come from, in others we are confused and don't know how we should move or where to look.

Inhabiting space is thus an important part of the learning process. The simpler the action of "occupying" the physical space, the more it becomes a vehicle for the relationships that support the learning process. The physical space should be a vehicle that directly facilitates the participants to achieve the proposed objective and never a distraction element that disturbs in relation to it. In this sense, it is important to know well the teaching and learning process and methodology, not only to determine the ideal space for each type of moment, but also to ensure the harmony of the various actors (space, content, actors and methodologies).

Let's think about a simple example that occupies the imagination of all of us: a primary school classroom with individual desks for each student. What type of methodology is associated with this? In most cases, it is a lecture, accompanied or not by exercises to be solved individually. Usually, with an immediate focal point, the blackboard where the teacher writes contents. Again, it is not decisive, and of course we can propose collaborative and dynamic methodologies in this type of space. But it is not the most immediate action and requires specific furniture that counteracts the tendency of rigidity that the space naturally presents.

There are numerous factors to be taken into account when analysing learning spaces according to the teaching/learning methodologies that take place in it, from function to the learning mode, to the spatial configuration and morphology, or the type of expected interaction (Bacharel Carreira, 2015).

In order to question and deepen the study of the learning spaces in the Carcavelos campus of Nova SBE, the team of the Intensive Open programs of the Executive Education is doing a survey of the spaces and learning methods used there. These spaces can be indoor or outdoor, formal or informal, obvious or not. For this reason, this team promoted a photography competition open to the whole community attending the campus, to document ways and models of learning in the various spaces, highlighting the importance of looking at the space critically but also openly, understanding learning as a continuous process and not a moment circumscribed to a particular room.