Creating an innovation space to reinvent active learning for boys.
The Scots Learning Lab is a unique, multi-use teaching and learning space right at the heart of the College designed to facilitate active learning experiences for boys. Situated next to the John Cunningham Student Centre, and directly off the Quadrangle, the Scots Learning Lab provides a flexible environment for a range of individual, small group and whole class learning experiences.
While most of our classrooms and laboratories are fixed and inflexible, the Scots Learning Lab allows teachers to experiment with different classroom configurations and gives boys more choice in finding the best setup for the type of learning they are undertaking. Connected to our Scots Research Office, the Scots Learning Lab helps us test, learn and scale new approaches to boys’ learning.
Designs for the Scots Learning Lab draw on years of research and experimentation with teachers and boys at the College. Over the last decade we have developed a range of activity-based learning spaces, including in the Graeme Clark Centre for Innovation in the Sciences, the Lang Walker Business Centre, and at our Brighton and Bellevue Hill Preparatory Schools. See an example of ScotsResearch on ‘next-generation learning spaces’ here. The final designs have been developed in conjunction with leading Austrian design firm Invisible Lab, during a series of face-to-face and remote sessions with staff and boys across 2022 and 2023.
“Creative spaces and innovative thinking hubs require the ability to adapt to different situations. They must not only be inspiring, but also transformable in a way that they need to afford prototyping new ideas, running a workshop, accommodating different moods, playing scenarios or simply creating an ideal space for exchanging ideas.” Dr Stefanie Egger, Invisible Lab
