The Open Area School and Independent Study

Abstract

The open area concept and independent study are recent innovations in a growing number of schools. Like most innovations, there is little theory backing their acceptance. A good, brief overview of the thinking behind the open concept school, as interpreted in this paper, is provided in A Day in the Life: Case Studies of Pupils in Open Plan Schools. The words 'open plan' seem to have a number of interpretations in the literature - from free schools to outdoor education. My concern is with that 'openness' which is based on a large, wall-less space within the school building. Similarly, there are many articles on 'independent study in Education Index; most, however, are about audio-visual,
library, and programmed instruction activities, and are not concerned with an independent study environment as developed here. Much of this literature speaks of the concern over group conformity and the need to 'individualize' some aspects of the school program. These programs are concerned with subject content and the training of the student's research techniques. These are useful articles for gaining ideas for setting up programs, but my purpose is to take these theories of learning that large open areas aid the learning process, and that learning is promoted in an independent study situation - and develop them strictly from the viewpoint of the effects of the two different environments on the learning process.