Giving Students Autonomy

Humans are motivated by Autonomy, a sense of having meaningful input and making a difference. So my Junior Maths Class' first task is to design, in groups of 3, the seating for their learning space. I like Dan Meyer's approach to patient problem solving so I will give the class as little information as possible and start with, 'What do we need to know?'

Of course, I have ideas I want the students to learn and use, so will try to subtly direct the task, notwithstanding past experiences where I have changed my approach based on ideas from the students. Anyway, here are some things I hope to achieve:

1. Measure accurately the room, desks and chairs. We are lucky to have two types of desks in the room.
2. Complete scale drawings of the floor plan and the desks, using grid paper or Google SketchUp.
3. List human considerations for interior design, such as group work, a break-out area, working space requirements and universal accessibility, such as wheelchair access.
4. Manipulate cut-outs to look at alternate arrangements.
5. Justify, in a 1 minute video, why the final design should be used by the whole class.
6. Evaluate all designs to reach a consensus on how our Maths Class will be organised.

Watch this space for progress reports on the task:

#1
"Is this for real?" asks one incredulous student. Says volumes about the curriculum!
Another barrier, of course, is the other people who share the room. Why would you give students a say over the arrangement of the room? On the other hand, we are interrupting other people's routines. (Is that a bad thing?)

Other than that, we are all having fun, figuring out "What we need to know" and "What skills we must use"