How Do You Work Best?

As I participate in the math institute, I am reminded about the need for us to create spaces for optimal learning. A good question to lead this effort is to ask students, "How do you learn best? Is the environment one that is silent or one where talking is invited? Is it an environment where you have lots of space or is that not so important? Is it an environment where you work alone or work together? Is a work structure that has lots of time or less time? Then after children give this some thought, divide the room into quiet spaces and talking spaces, collaborative space and individual space, time-crunch and time-available. This is an important aspect of successful learning design.