What can you do with boxes? Constructing boxes and their surfaces into a spatial system to support creative learning

This paper addresses the challenges in developing design ideas that can promote creativity in primary school children's learning environment. The findings of the study illustrate how boxes, as simple three-dimensional objects, can be constructed into a system that offers various possibilities for enhancing learning activities. The possible arrangements of boxes and the possible utilization of their surfaces were investigated through a series of creative workshops with children in which they explored different ways of constructing the arrangement of boxes and using them for their activities. The possibilities offered by the arrangement of boxes and their surfaces indicate the importance of understanding the presence of objects in space not as independent entities but as a part of the whole spatial system. It is suggested that, essentially, the learning environment needs to be designed as an integrated system of learning spaces and objects that together can promote creative learning.