Adding a Little Classroom Magic for Learning

Do you remember Bewitched, the 1970’s TV show? Samantha, the good witch, could wiggle her nose and change any situation possible. What about Tinker Bell from the classic children’s story, Peter Pan? She could sprinkle magic fairy dust to make people fly the world to a different place. When my children were younger, I would stealthily sprinkle ‘fairy dust’ into their school shoes at the beginning of each school year to give them confidence and remind them that magical things could happen at school.

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What if we could wave a magic wand and give our classrooms a make-over that meant learning was enriched and all teachers and children were engaged and connected? What if behaviour issues were reduced, literacy and numeracy skill development was increased, children’s interests linked them to the curriculum, strong relationships were built and responsibility and ownership was encouraged?

While we don’t have a magic wand, we do have research in neuroscience and development that explains the importance of activating the brain through the design of our learning spaces. The learning environment includes inside the classroom, the patio, the playground, anywhere children use in the school day.

In his book, Brain Rules, John Medina describes 12 brain rules to explain what children and adults need to stay focused, motivated, engaged, stimulated and in love with learning. For example, Brain Rule #6 states, “We don’t pay attention to boring things,” and Brain Rule #12 states, “We are powerful and natural explorers.” These are just two of the 12 that relate to how we set up and use our teaching spaces.

Designing classrooms and outdoor spaces that are non-institutionalised, warm, inviting, related to children’s interests and linked to the curriculum promotes engaged and individualised learning. Having open ended materials in several different learning spaces inside or outside the classroom, allows children to expand their thinking, problem solve, use language or literacy to communicate ideas, negotiate, plan, imagine and direct their own learning with the guidance by the teacher.

Children need to:
• Move around the classroom after short periods of sitting.
• Calmly engage in rich, non-threatening learning spaces so that any performance based anxiety is reduced.
• Be provided with opportunities to repeat skills several times to build long term memory and skill acquisition.

These few strategies relate to research in neuroscience with links to Brain Rule #2, which states, “Movement and exercise boosts brain power,” as well as Brain Rule #4, which states, “Stressed brains don’t learn the same way.” Additionally, Brain Rule #7 states, “Repeat skills to remember.”

As teachers, we need to consider the research that explores the nature of learning and whether it is performance or process based. Performance based learning has the undercurrent of fear with the pressure to succeed, get a good grade or win the race. On the other hand, process based learning focuses on the learning that occurs during the activity. What is the thinking behind the answer to the maths problem? What was learnt getting 5/10 in the spelling? How did it feel when you ran and what might you do next time? Providing a learning environment that is nonthreatening and offers a range of relevant and interesting materials to supplement the learning from the curriculum addresses John Medina’s approach to looking after the brain and the process of learning, rather than focusing only on the product.

The classroom and outside environment is a springboard that allows us to link our explicit teaching and learning to children’s experiences. Neuroscience plays a key role in the design and planning of your room and outside space. If we could wave a magic wand and set up our learning spaces differently to the typical classroom or outside space, then these top ten strategies may be what we would see:

Top Ten Classroom Magic Design Strategies

  1. Use layers and textures to make each learning space interesting so that it invites the child into the area and engages their curiosity and wonder.
  2. Lower the roof line of your classroom or outside area with draped material, streamers, lattice hung horizontally or beach umbrellas.
  3. Make small, home like, cosy spaces with floor rugs, table and floor lamps, cushions and soft materials.
  4. Define small spaces for one to four children with mats, lattice, hessian, trellis or organza curtaining.
  5. Pay attention to detail and have tidy, organised spaces with a feature point for interest and stimulus. Become an ‘op shopper’ or frequent the $2 shops.
  6. Always be ‘on the look out’ for natural resources such as seed pods, leaves and feathers.
  7. Select developmentally appropriate items for the learning spaces that reflect real life. For example, china crockery from the op shop, instead of plastic for the Kindy room.
  8. Ensure that there are clip boards with paper and pencils in every learning space around the room to promote literacy and numeracy opportunities.
  9. Plan for skill development in every area based on child, centre and community interests by adding extension materials.
  10. When defining spaces make sure that your view of the children is not totally obstructed. Use trellis or lattice from a hardware store, sheer curtaining, open weave hessian and carefully consider the positioning of partitions.

Don’t forget to ensure that there is a mat somewhere in your classroom for small and whole group meetings, in order to create a gathering space to share learning and teaching successes.

Possibilities for learning are opened up when we think a little differently about our teaching and learning spaces. Having a warm, home like environment helps children to feel secure, open to building relationships and taking risk in their learning. An interesting classroom or
outside area inspires us as teachers and does the same for children. I invite you to join the Classroom Magic Movement and try the top ten strategies. After you see the benefits, share with your colleagues!

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Dr Kathy Murray


Dr Kathy Murray has a 34 - year background in education and is the founder of Training and Education Services. Kathy also works with business owners and leaders to
support the development of skills in emotional intelligence, leadership,
communication and team building. She speaks locally, nationally and internationally on a range of topics including brain science and
behaviours. Dr Kathy Murray can be contacted by email: kathy@trainingandedservices.com.au