Have you ever wondered how the way we organize the classroom space can influence the teaching and learning process and the interactions between students and teachers?

The workshop held at the 29th edition of Bett Brasil by teachers Ana Valéria Reis, Karina Nones Tomelin, and Thuinie Daros focused on how to support teachers in creating innovative classroom layouts: “Move the Chairs and Open Your Mind: How New Layouts Help Create Innovative Environments.”

Change isn’t always easy, because the traditional classroom—with desks lined up in rows—is deeply ingrained in the collective imagination, which makes it difficult to create new opportunities to think differently and be creative when devising strategies and activities that engage students in new settings.

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Transforming the physical layout of the classroom can have a significant impact on teaching and learning dynamics. In addition to simply rearranging the chairs, other strategies can be used to create a more inviting and stimulating environment for students.

These new classroom arrangements are a way to foster new connections, breathing room, and approaches to learning. Stimulating more complex and creative skills in a free, light, and relaxed classroom stems primarily from the teacher’s intentional effort to imagine new possibilities for the traditional classroom.

Organized around a teaching sequence that emphasizes relationship-building, engaging attention, collaboration, immersion, and the consolidation and assessment of learning, participants were able to experience and experiment with new approaches using active and creative strategies.

Nicholas Gianelli, an assistant principal at a high school in Ubatuba, São Paulo, said, "The workshop opened my mind to new ways of transforming the classroom into a welcoming, dynamic, and contemporary environment."

There is no doubt that we need to rethink the classroom space and create learning strategies that are truly memorable for students. This mission can be shared, fostered, and built upon together with other teachers and students.

Teachers should act as facilitators, capable of adapting the space and available resources to meet students’ needs. This involves planning and a clear understanding of the educational goals to be achieved through changes to the physical space.

In addition to gaining hands-on experience and learning the fundamentals of learning space management, participants received a toolkit to help them develop new layouts and implement different strategies in their schools.

Based on the blueprint methodology—originally used in architecture and engineering to create detailed plans of buildings—blueprints serve as guides in the classroom for creating memorable learning experiences.

This session with the participating teachers also made it clear that involving students in the process of redesigning the classroom not only broadens the scope of the new layouts but also helps them feel like an integral part of the educational process, thereby fostering their autonomy and creativity.

The workshop was inspired by the book *Creative Layouts for Innovative Classes* and invites each teacher to become an architect of education, designing an educational future that transcends current boundaries.

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