Research
Researchers and learning designers on TLT’s staff collaborate with faculty who teach in the Bluebox, and other experimental classrooms, to uncover how the space’s resources can help implement unique approaches to teaching and learning.
The graphic below illustrates how the Bluebox supports this unique research-to-practice cycle.
How can research in this space enhance teaching and learning?
The Bluebox is a discipline-agnostic learning space. Faculty from any discipline are invited to engage students in this space. With each new course there is an opportunity to better understand the space and for faculty to learn new ways to teach in their discipline.
The goal of Bluebox-related research is to uncover new pedagogies, determine best practices, and contribute to the growing national discourse on effective learning spaces.
Research in the Bluebox
This article provides details of two novel data collection approaches in learning spaces, approaches that help to answer research questions related to the teaching experiences of faculty.
Ramsay, C., Ozkan, S., & Choi, K. (2017). Active learning: A Summary of a 30-year call to action.
This white paper provides a broad historical summary of—and makes a case for—active learning as a pedagogical practice. By extension, it serves as evidence of the need for active learning spaces.
What have others learned?
Below are research articles related to innovative learning spaces that have helped shape the thinking around the Bluebox and other state-of-the-art learning spaces at Penn State.
General Active Learning Classroom
Brooks, D. C. (2011). Space matters: The impact of formal learning environments on student learning
This quasi-experimental design study showed strong empirical evidence that technologically enhanced learning environments, independent of all other factors, have a significant and positive impact on student learning.
Students’ Perception and Performance in Active Learning Classroom
This article explores students’ perceptions in association with the affordances and features of learning space, specifically examining classroom climate, learning and motivation, classroom engagement, and benefits and challenges of furniture and technology.
This chapter discusses the effectiveness of active learning techniques to facilitate group interaction, considering the facets of mutual respect, shared responsibility for learning, effective communication and feedback, cooperation, and trust and security in active learning classrooms.
Chiu, P. H. P., & Cheng, S. H. (2017). Effects of active learning classrooms on student learning: A two-year empirical investigation on student perceptions and academic performance
In this study, a large-scale two-year longitudinal study, researchers examined the benefits of active learning classrooms on students’ creative and innovative thinking, across a variety of disciplines and for all learners, regardless of the level of academic achievement.
Lo, C. C. (2010). Student learning and student satisfaction in an interactive classroom
In this article, suggestions which were supported by empirical results were given to faculty members on how to easily and successfully change their role in new interactive classrooms.
This study investigated the degree of improvement of students’ cognitive engagement, knowledge construction, and knowledge integration in active learning classroom, as compared to those in traditional classrooms.
This article discusses a study of the aspects of change in situational interest depending on different learning activities and further investigated its effects on students’ achievement-related behaviors and academic achievement in an active learning classroom.
Instructors’ Perceptions and Behaviors in Active Learning Classroom
This article discusses four types of student engagement while taking courses in technology-rich classrooms and explores the relation between the extent of student engagement and professors’ conceptions of effective teaching for the course they were teaching in in technology-rich classrooms.
This study introduces active learning techniques such as one-minute paper and think-pair-share and examines the effectiveness of active learning techniques on students’ classroom engagement, academic performance, and success rates in the course.
This quasi-experimental design study discusses two types of instructors’ teaching approach (i.e., instructor-centered vs. student-centered) and explored the relations among instructors’ learning approach, use of active learning strategies, and students’ perception of classroom engagement in active learning classroom.
Learning spaces research outlets
TLT looks forward to supporting and collaborating with faculty who want to conduct scholarship of teaching and learning research related to the Bluebox space.