Over the past ten years, there has been an increasing focus on physical learning spaces in higher education. By now, what do we really know about the relation between space and student learning? What does the research landscape look like, and how has it developed? A systematic review of peer-reviewed 108 articles on the physical learning space for the period 2009-2019 was performed. A broad and fragmented field emerged that is to some extent under-researched and under-theorized. Few articles contain theory sections, and very few authors refer to each other's work in their articles. On the other hand, a diversity of themes, methods and perspectives can be seen. Overall, the review can contribute to an overview of what we know - and what we do not know - about the complex relationship between student learning and learning spaces.

This chapter focuses on a local school development project initiated by teachers who experienced students' lack of engagement, passive learning, and absence from school. In order to achieve more active learning among the students, the teachers built an active learning classroom and set out to develop teaching methods appropriate for the new classroom. This process turned out to be more complex than expected and raised questions not only about the teachers' teaching, but also about their learning and more specifically about how they as a collective created transformative agency. In this chapter, we highlight how the teachers gained transformative agency and the situations that characterized this process. Inspired by cultural historical activity theory, we pay attention to stimuli that helped the teachers to bring forth and deal with conflicts of motives that led to break-outs from the teacher-centered teaching and thereby created transformative agency toward a classroom practice characterized by students' active learning.

This study highlights how 20 Swedish principals, school managers and architects involved in planning, construction and reconstruction of primary and secondary school buildings at regional, municipal and local levels represent good learning environments. Drawing on semi-structured interviews, the analysis focuses on how the stakeholders understand the physical, pedagogical and social aspects of learning environments, including the power relations and principles of control that are embedded in their understandings. The findings indicate two orientations when the interviewees discuss good learning environment, an orientation towards clearer boundaries and control in physical, pedagogical and social spaces (strong classification and framing), and an orientation towards weaker boundaries and control (weak classification and framing). The first orientation is directed towards what, in previous research and policy discourses, is described as traditional school design, whereas the second rejects some basic principles of traditional school design and aligns with what is commonly described as innovative school design.

This participatory design-based research study addresses the relational character of the physical learning environment and pedagogical practice in the context of a design project carried out at a Swedish upper secondary school. Three teachers initiated the project with the intent to introduce student centred pedagogy and increase active learning. In collaboration with the research team, they designed and furnished a classroom supportive for communication and intense interaction between students, and where students and teachers could work and construct knowledge together. Drawing on observations, video recordings and design conversations with the teachers, the analysis, which is inspired by Actor Network Theory, concentrates on the six month period when the teachers started to teach in the new classroom with focus on their experiences, asking what they experienced as advantageous and challenging. Considering the new learning environment as a network of socio-material relations consisting of a) physical and spatial agents, b) organisational structural agents, and c) teacher/teaching agents, we conclude that whereas some actors corresponded well and contributed to a well-coordinated classroom practice facilitating the project's intentions, some actors contradicted each other and challenged the same intentions.

In this position paper we present a theoretical model on how to support teachers to develop a “didactic spatial competence” (DiSCo). We define DiSCo as: Based on proven experience and science to have the ability to plan and design teaching and learning in a variety of learning spaces; to implement teaching and learning, act and react in a variety of learning spaces and to evaluate, reflect and transform both pedagogy and the learning space. In the paper we argue that a Didactic Spatial Competence (DiSCo) can be used to frame the complex relationship between learning spaces and teaching. DiSCo concerns to plan for teaching and learning in a variety of learning spaces that support the pedagogical ideas; but it also entails implementing, that is to critically reflect over and use affordances and meaning potential in various learning spaces, to have agency and competence to act and react during teaching and learning in various learning spaces and maybe first and foremost; to use the space in a meaning-making process together with students – that is to create a place for learning. Furthermore, it includes a reflective and evaluative part.

This paper reports on a research and development project based upon problems in upper secondary school, namely students’lack of engagement, passive learning and students’ absence from school. Looking to solve this problem, a group of

Objective: Recently, the interest in spaces for learning in higher education (HE) has grown consider­ably in Sweden and several universities have invested in flexible learning spaces. Much inspirat ...

This paper reports on a case study of a school development project in a Swedish upper secondary school. The project initiators (three teachers), wanted to change their teaching towards student acti ...

An increased awareness of the importance of nutrition for older people's health and quality of life has underpinned projects and quality improvements for the meal situation in care establishments. The present study took place in a nursing home in a village outside an average-sized town situated in mid-Sweden. Care staff had initiated a change from external catered meals to purchase the food and cook the main meals themselves. The intention was to increase flexibility in accommodating the requests and needs of the elderly and, in doing so, to achieve increased professional pride and satisfaction. To ensure that no negative effects resulted for the residents in the nursing home, outcomes were evaluated through the present intervention study. The objective was to investigate whether and, if so, how their energy and nutrient intake and weight were affected. At the start, only one main hot meal was exchanged for home cooking to avoid work load problems as no increased costs were allowed and no extra staff were to be recruited. The study population consisted of 21 residents, aged 69-97 years. Weight, energy and nutrient intake were recorded before and during the intervention by 3-day food records validated by Goldberg's cutoff method. The same 3 days of the weekSunday to Tuesdayand the same menus were used for both measurement periods. At group level, the energy intake corresponded to the estimated energy requirements, both at baseline and at follow-up, although the intervention resulted in a significantly higher energy intake from the meals cooked in the ward kitchens. Two-thirds of the residents (n=13) slightly increased in weight from baseline to follow-up, while two participants (with body mass index 27.5 kg/m(2) and 33.5 kg/m(2), respectively) lost 5.0 kg and 6.9 kg, respectively. The total protein intake was insufficient both at baseline and follow-up and only met the participants' needs to 8122% and 83 +/- 26%, respectively. In conclusion, the intervention resulted in no adverse consequences for participants in terms of energy and nutrient intake. Most participants were weight stable or had small increases in weight, and the greatest weight gain was observed in the lighter clients. The low protein intake at both time points causes concern and suggests the need for further nutritional interventions to optimize older people's protein intake.