Whether you’re teaching primary school kids or those at university, it’s important to create an exciting learning environment that’ll encourage pupils to listen, participate and absorb information. If people are uninterested or bored they will not feel inclined to expand their knowledge, so here’s a few tips on how to creative a positive learning environment:
- Invest in bright, colourful furniture
When it comes to buying furniture, opt for bright, colourful pieces that will instantly bring your classroom to life. Companies like Hope Education offer a wide range of fun and aesthetically pleasing furniture choices such as area dividers, beanbags and animal-themed seating areas, meaning you can also think outside the box and invest in items that are not only practical, but educational too.
By organising your classroom into sections and placing different kinds of seating into each of those sections, including large comfy cushions and reclining seats, you will instantly have different areas from which you can teach. This means if students are starting to get a bit stagnant in one part of the room, you can change up the activity and move them to a different area to help them feel fresh and interested once again. On a similar note, it’s also good to have light and easily portable furniture, as this will allow you to arrange the classroom exactly as you please, making it easier to organise group work, role play tasks, and story corners.
- Choose a theme and decorate the classroom
While the national curriculum contains a programme of study that must be followed, teachers still have the flexibility to use their imagination and make their work space engaging. So, if you’re focussing on a specific theme, be it Ancient Egypt, space, sea life, vehicles, numbers, family life and so on, it’s a good idea to decorate areas of your classroom appropriately. You could, for instance, have an area of the room that is dedicated to the Solar System and ask all the children to decorate planets and stars as part of an in-class activity. Laminate their work at the end of the day and you’ve got an instant selection of space-themed art to put up on the walls.
- Put up posters
As well as putting up students’ work on the walls, it’s also a good idea to buy a range of educational and brightly coloured posters that will assist with learning. Alphabet and number posters always go down well, but you can also opt for animal pictures, emotion faces, weather symbols, popular fairy-tale figures or anything else that suits your fancy.
As mentioned above, it might also be nice to place specific posters in certain parts of the classroom, such as a bookworm image in the book corner, as well as lots of quotation bubbles from popular story books. You’ll find many more ways to spruce up your classroom online, so don’t be afraid to look for inspiration.
- Have an IT section
Technology is becoming more and more integrated into the classroom, so if you want your learning space to be exciting, having an IT section is a must. If finances allow, buy an array of top quality equipment that you can use for video streaming, music sessions, camera work, arts and crafts, game times and incorporate technology into your lessons.
There are, of course, many different ways to create an exciting, learning environment. The above tips are just some of our best, most effective ideas!