Spatial conditions: An unheeded medium in teaching and learning

This article addresses spatiality as an educational category by asking how spatiality influences students' experiences of interactions in project-based teaching. It examines students' experiences with two different spatial conditions - namely, separate rooms, each accommodating a single group, or a much larger open space hosting multiple groups. It concludes that students' experiences of the two types of spatiality provide very different contexts for interaction and learning. The advantages of separate rooms for multiple groups arise from their affordance of spontaneous inspiration, feedback and learning, but they present challenges regarding the handling of complexity. Single-group rooms support focus in discussions, but prevent members of one group from drawing inspiration from others. Deconstruction of students' utterances about their interaction with students from other groups indicates that the experience of knowing each other, belonging to and being a part of the community appears to be the factor which makes a difference in students' engaging in professional interactions. The findings suggest that the multiple-group room assists in the development of competencies in the areas of networking, professional interaction and learning.