I was told years ago that garbage is cultural. “Martin, it took years even in developed countries for people to stop littering.” I don’t know about the anthropological evolution of littering. I just know that I hate a dirty classroom.
I’m not an order freak. I’m just interested in how people interact with their environment and how that affects learning. If students treat classrooms like garbage dumps, they probably assume that’s what they’re receiving too.
Likewise, there is the sociology of chairs. People choose where they are comfortable sitting and will not budge. Move the chairs and some are ready to sit on the floor rather than move. The most radical configuration is a circle. Lao classrooms are not familiar with circles. I’ve seen circles turn into squares and go concentric in order to create a safe back seat.
Once students get used to it, life is different. They look at the teacher. They stop using their phones. They talk to each other. Circles are equalizing, democratising and harmonious. Rather than an ox cart with slow students dragging the rear, circles spin in forward momentum. With circles, there is a happy hum among the students. It’s the sound of satisfied learning.
