Change Management of School Spaces for Third-graders Based on Evaluation and Analysis of Student Needs Aimed at Improvement of Productivity

User-oriented change management in educational spaces will provide an opportunity to maintain productivity at an acceptable level through minimal time and capital. The current study attempted to enhance productivity in educational spaces. By a comparative analysis of student needs throughout the change management of school spaces, this paper explored what changes are essential to bring an educational space to desirable conditions, and whether the change priorities are identical for all students from different classes. In achieving these objectives, effort was made to adopt a hybrid model (quantitative - qualitative) to evaluate the physical elements of classroom space based on drawings received from a total of 150 female third-graders at 6 different classes in Ardabil, Iran. The results demonstrated that change priorities varied from the perspective of students from each classroom depending on their specific preferences. This emphasized the significance of individualistic attitude and decision-making on physical transformation of primary schools. In that light, it is crucial to focus on users of educational spaces throughout the change process, thereby to ensure each change will promote the quality of spaces and meet both user preferences and organizational productivity.