How Classrooms Have Evolved Over the Last 50 Years

How Classrooms Have Evolved Over the Last 50 Years

Over the last 50 years there have been dramatic technological advances that have helped to shape a society that is fundamentally different from that of the 1950's and 1960's. One place where this is particularly apparent is in the classroom where both the room itself and the teaching techniques used therein are considerably different from those of just a few decades ago.

I'm sure the classic depiction of a classroom is familiar to almost everyone; wooden flip-top desks with attached seats; the units all separate from one another and facing towards the blackboard at the front of the class, where lectures are typically taught in a direct lecture-style fashion.

Over the years classrooms changed and evolved, individual desk/seating units were replaced with separate desks and chairs that could be positioned in groups, making it more straightforward to encourage interaction and group work between the students. At this time the lesson structure also changed; lessons were based less upon direct lecturing and a greater emphasis was placed on maintaining interest and enthusiasm amongst the students. This was achieved through increased interaction between the students and more practical tasks and activities. To aid this development items like easels and art supplies crept into classrooms, and areas devoted to activities such as reading, music or crafts were separated using room dividers.

Nowadays classrooms have advanced much further to take advantage of the most recent technological developments. The widespread adoption of the Internet has fundamentally changed the way that people live their lives nowadays and many classrooms are taking advantage of it to improve the way lessons are taught. Modern classrooms are almost incomparable from those of the 50's; banks of computers line the walls and traditional blackboards are replaced with projectors hooked up to laptop computers allowing lessons to be interspersed with video and audio clips, all of which help teachers to keep lessons fresh and interesting resulting in students that are more likely to remain alert and engaged with the class.

In some classes technology has also changed the way students submit work. With the huge societal uptake of web 2.0 properties (such as social networking websites, blogs and forums) many teachers have opted to utilise them in the classroom; essays and short stories are posted on blogs rather than submitted on paper and class interaction is encouraged via class forums.