[DSRP Evidence](https://dsrpevidence.org/)

# Classroom Design Promotes Student-Centered Learning

## Details

**Authors** ASCD SmartBrief

**Year** 2014

**Publisher** ASCD

**Kind of work** press

**Discipline** Education

**Kind of engagement** press

[Read it](https://www.cabreralab.science/post/designing-a-classroom-where-ithaca-students-can-learn-better-and-longer)

## In authors' words

### What they set out to do (purpose)

The article describes the Ithaca City School District’s Contemporary Learning Spaces initiative, which sought to redesign classrooms so that the physical environment better supported student-centered learning and thinking.

### What they found (results)

The article presents classroom design and pedagogy as interdependent rather than separate: changing the learning space was intended to support a shift toward more student-centered, flexible, and thinking-focused instruction.

## Commentary

### In short

Coverage of the work in ASCD.

### In more detail

Barrett examines how ICSD was changing both the physical classroom and the way teaching and learning occurred within it. Rather than simply replacing traditional desks with new furniture, the redesign was intended to support movement, collaboration, flexibility, and greater student participation in constructing knowledge. ThinkBlocks provided a tangible way for students to represent and manipulate ideas using the DSRP thinking framework.

**Patterns it shows** D, S, R, P

**How to cite this** ASCD SmartBrief (2014). Classroom Design Promotes Student-Centered Learning. ASCD.