Innovative Learning Environments as Complex Adaptive Systems: Enabling Middle Years’ Education

Abstract

In a period of post-industrial education, how can we understand school learning environments i.e. educational spaces and practices that are concurrently physical, social and cultural? How might theoretical constructs that deal with ideas associated with ‘complexity’, ‘emergence’ and ‘self-organisation’ aid our interpretations of learning environments in the knowledge era? This chapter explores the emergence, co-evolution and mutual adaptation of the physical, social and cultural practices in three schools (primary and secondary) that attempted to develop contemporary pedagogical cultures of practice between 2008 and 2011 in non-traditional learning spaces. Employing theoretical frameworks derived from the literature on ‘complexity theory’ and ‘complex adaptive systems theory’, this chapter explores the influences of new socio-spatial contexts for learning (i.e. innovative learning environments) on the engagement of middle years’ students. To conclude, an argument is put forward for considering school learning environments, schools and school systems as ‘complex adaptive systems’: educational settings that can ‘learn’ in response to positive feedback loops to provide dynamic socio-pedagogical cultures of practice that are aligned with current middle years’ educational theories.