Education: Case Studies

In January 2005, Latchmere Junior School embarked on a groundbreaking project to design an environment to raise education standards and help children to be more creative with their learning, with the aid of a government sponsored CARA award (Creativity Action Research Awards). A total of 30 pupils from years 5 and 6 took part in a project to find out whether the learning environment had an effect on children’s learning and wellbeing.

In a survey to find out which learning environment the children felt they learnt best in, the traditional classroom came disappointingly low on the scorecard. Teachers recognised that not all children achieve their full potential in a classroom environment and wondered whether, by creating an innovative and imaginative learning environment, they might promote thinking and creativity skills in the children. To put this theory into practice, the school began to develop two new contrasting learning environments for teaching meditation and creative thinking skills.

Two focus groups of children who were ‘at risk’ or underperforming was formed: one made up of pupils with low self-esteem and the other of boys who struggled with reading. The school felt that if the children ‘owned’ their learning environments, they would be happier to take risks with their learning and their creativity would improve. Mentored by Professor Robert Fisher of Brunel University, Soulfood Studios interior designer Amanda Russell helped the children design imaginative learning spaces using colour to set the mood. A restful blue was chosen for the meditation room and a buttery yellow for the creative room.

The results were overwhelming. Through the children’s ownership of the learning spaces their self esteem and sense of well being soared. After the initial design project they had learnt specific techniques for meditation and creative thinking in the rooms, which they used both in and out of school. Feedback from follow-up questionnaires filled by children, teachers and parents showed that in the meditation group children had lower stress levels, better coping techniques and improved sleep, while in the creativity learning group children were ready to be more adventurous and take greater risks with their learning.