# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Teacher Hemal Panchal, at Oberoi International School, in India, explains how a student-led classroom makeover enhanced their learning.

What started as a unit of inquiry into 'Sharing the planet', became a meaningful classroom redesign challenge for 38 Primary Years Programme (PYP) students at Oberoi International School, in India. As students talked about how they share the planet, a discussion about how we can share our learning spaces better followed. Students then decided a classroom redesign was necessary to enhance their learning experiences.

The planning

Students began by assessing their current learning spaces and what facilities they already had. Then, they made a list of things they wanted to add, using the "must-haves" and an "amazing" (ideal-things-to-have) criteria.

To create safe, stimulating and inviting learning spaces, students wanted to include areas for audio recording; solving challenging mathematics problems; expression through art; a recycling bin; a reading corner; a games section; group collaboration areas; and a space to create displays that reflect their learning process.

Thinking of the possible layouts that would support their redesign was the second step. A class discussion was led by students. They moved around furniture and talked through all the layout suggestions. They also formed small groups to test out their ideas and brainstorm and came to a number of conclusions. One student said: "It is important to have the unit of inquiry elements posted in multiple spaces because we constantly refer to it."

"It will be amazing to have quotes on the walls because it will motivate us when we are feeling low," another student said.

Students also decided that our classroom 'Essential Agreements' shouldn't be placed all together, but should be displayed wherever a particular agreement is applicable. For example, 'We will respect our resources', should be placed where resources are kept. We also decided to create a 'celebration corner', which would include artwork, actions, photos and achievements.

At the time, our literacy writing unit was 'Persuasive writing'. Using their newfound persuasive skills, students asked parents if they could bring items from home to decorate their spaces, such as fairy lights for the reading corner, decorative bedsheets to craft tents, recyclable items to make stationery boxes, and games.

Students were happy with the outcome. They worked together to design and enhance their learning spaces, which everyone could benefit from. Students demonstrated action-oriented problem solving, creativity and teamwork.

Reflection

Reflection is an integral part of learning. Students were asked to share three things they learned; two things they found interesting; one thing they wish to have, which will help their learning; and what their next steps were. Responses included learning how to effectively work with others, and ways to adapt to the new spaces.

Teacher reflection is equally important. I learned how students can take ownership of their learning spaces, by choosing where they want to learn, and how this results in a smoother flow to the classroom. I also discovered that students who are emotionally invested stay more engaged in their learning, and this task promoted high levels of independence, encouraging children to access different learning materials.

Designing and creating learning spaces can be led as an inquiry. My advice to teachers, who want to also complete a similar task with their class is:

1. Reduce your input

2. Always ask students for their input and ideas: traditional classrooms are not in line with modern learning so remove what is no longer required in the classroom

3. Create spaces for collaboration: all spaces are open to learning so use hallways too

4. Create spaces for creativity and always reflect.

Flexible learning spaces should encourage a balance of experiences to facilitate Approaches to Learning (ATL), and promote choice, decision-making and independence.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
How PYP students designed the perfect learning space

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Teacher Hemal Panchal, at Oberoi International School, in India, explains how a student-led classroom makeover enhanced their learning. What started as a unit of inquiry into 'Sharing the planet', became a meaningful classroom redesign challenge for 38 Primary Years Programme (PYP) students at Oberoi International School, in India.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
Making the PYP Happen: Transdisciplinary Learning

# data[].attributes.headline
Instruction for reading on International Mindedness

# data[].attributes.subject
Instruction for reading on International Mindedness

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
David Thornburg, who has been described as the "premier futurist in educational technology", identifies in his book From the Campfire to the Holodeck: Creating Engaging and Powerful 21st Century Learning Environments, three archetypal learning spaces: the campfire, the cave, and the watering hole. Each space has a distinct function in human learning that
corresponds directly to being a disciple and a learner. We believe that these spaces offer us primal insight that will help us reclaim healthy rhythms of leadership in the ordinary spaces of life in today's world.

1. The cave is the private space where we as individuals can think, reflect, and transform learning from external knowledge into internal belief. This space reminds us that personal, spiritual, and emotional health comes from having a healthy balance of retreat and engagement. The cave, in other words, is where we create sacred space to be alone with God and develop the art of
spiritual reflection.

2. The campfire is the space where people gather to learn from an expert. In the days of old, wise elders passed down insights through storytelling, and in so doing, replicated culture for the next generation. This space reminds us of the importance of being and having coaches and mentors in our lives. We all need a Gandalf, someone who can speak into our lives. This is where having a spiritual director or a coach is so important for leadership development.

3. The watering hole is the informal space where peers can share information and discoveries, acting as both learner and teacher simultaneously. This shared space can serve as an incubator for ideas and can promote a sense of shared culture. We believe that the waterhole is where creating a coaching culture becomes a reality.

Imagine if you as a leader embodied the healthy rhythms of being formed in the cave, the campfire and the watering hole in your daily life.

Imagine if you led out of a place of health and vitality instead of out burnout, fear, or scarcity.

Imagine if you took time to care for your own emotional and spiritual health and lead others in how to live out these healthy rhythms as well.

Imagine if churches, non-profits, and businesses were places of emotional and spiritual health and healing, living not for their own interests but for the sake of the world.

This story is an excerpt from the Book Healthy Rhythms for Leaders: Cultivating Soul Care in Uncertain Times.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.title
The Cave, The Campfire and The Watering Hole

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
David Thornburg, who has been described as the "premier futurist in educational technology", identifies in his book From the Campfire to the Holodeck: Creating Engaging and Powerful 21st Century...

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
In my research proposal for my PhD at the Centre for Science in Society, one of the areas of terminology I found myself disambiguating was around 'disciplinarities'.

The terms inter-, cross-, multi- and transdisciplinary are a set of words that sound like they could be synonyms, but do have more specific definitions. This came up at a Te Pūnaha Matatini hui in 2019, and luckily by then I had a useful analogy all 'cooked up' and ready to serve!

Subsequently, in June 2021 I gave a presentation on this content with Kate Hannah at Royal Society Te Apārangi's He Pito Mata Wānanga and I recorded a voiceover of the slides if you'd prefer to watch a video:

A typology of disciplinarities

Back in 1991, Marilyn Stember's paper described a five step typology for 'enterprises within and across disciplines':

This hierarchical structure runs from intradisciplinary to transdisciplinary, with each step requiring 'increasing integration and modification of the disciplinary contribution' (p.5). Generally speaking, this span of descriptions is pretty set in the literature, though sometimes the bottom rungs are omitted (e,g, Choi & Pak, 2006; Nicolescu, 2010) as they don't really represent collaboration across disciplines.

Something's cooking...

It was in Choi & Pak's paper (which I got to via Niklov(a) et al. (n.d.)) that a most interesting set of examples was articulated. First as mathematical equations, and then as food:

It was the food analogies (or metaphors? I always tie myself in knots over those) that really struck me. I had enjoyed Alexander Refsum Jensenius's diagramatic articulation of this typology (see below), which started to cement for me how the terms were related but different (though he does a swap on the multi/cross naming convention):

So I began to wonder if illustrating the food descriptors as a little visual aid might be helpful.

At the Te Pūnaha Matatini hui, I shared this way of remembering via food with my colleagues, and my friend Phil Wilson (from the University of Canterbury and Maths Craft NZ) pointed out to me how convenient it was that you eat a meal in the order salad-stew-cake! That got me thinking about other ways to connect the 'eating order' to the actual terms, and I devised the following mnemonic to help me remember:

This kind of works, because as Stember articulated, this is a hierarchical structure of increasing complexity, from intradisciplinary work being wholly within one discipline, to transdisciplinary being a complex 'greater than the sum of its parts' transcendence of boundaries. Personally, I see this as increasing 'tastiness', and, it is an indisputable fact that in the Bailey (2019) food pyramid, cake is the apex foodstuff!:

I / Intradisciplinary (single ingredient)

Can / Crossdisciplinary ( container of ingredients)

Make / Multidisciplinary ( mixed up salad)

It / Interdisciplinary ( intermingled stew)

Tasty / Transdisciplinary ( totally blended cake)

So that's my 'recipe book of disciplinarities', which in more detail looks something a little like this:

Intradisciplinary
I

Crossdisciplinary
Can

Multidisciplinary
Make

Interdisciplinary
It

Transdisciplinary
Tasty

Intradisciplinary working is within one discipline.

Like a single ingredient, clearly distinguishable...

Crossdisciplinary working views one discipline from the frame of reference of another.

It's like lots of different ingredients on a plate, but without chopping them up and mixing them...

Multidisciplinary working brings disciplines together so they can learn from each other, drawing on the mix of disciplinary knowledge.

It's like a salad: the original ingredients are intact, but the flavours begin to blend...

Interdisciplinary working starts to take a new form, integrating knowledge and methods from different disciplines and synthesising into a new whole.

It's like a stew: the original ingredients are still partly distinguishable, but the overall is a blended pot of mixed flavours...

Transdisiplinary working produces a new, novel form or way of working beyond the original disciplinary boundaries.

It's like a cake: you can no longer see the form of the ingredients as they have taken on a different shape and flavour.

Slow cooker...

Personally, I don't feel like I've ever got truly near to a transdisciplinary practice. But, where collaborations do happen across disciplines, getting on the same page with language is a prerequisite for deepening the engagement: necessary prep to get to a stage where cake can be made, then had and eaten!

The people who did the actual hard yards!:

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
In my research proposal for my PhD at the Centre for Science in Society, one of the areas of terminology I found myself disambiguating was around 'disciplinarities'. The terms inter-, cross-, multi- and transdisciplinary are a set of words that sound like they could be synonyms, but do have more specific definitions.