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| Innovative Classroom Furniture for a New Age |
| posted by: Ruthie | January 22, 2014, 08:40 PM |
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Quick! I say classroom furniture and you think–desks and chairs. The traditional student desk has been the mainstay of classrooms for well over 100 years. Popularized by the factory model of education, this piece of furniture was ideal for keeping classes in nice, neat rows. Since school work at the time focused on individual achievement and not collaboration, the fact that an individual desk also gave each student their own workspace was ideal. Since that time, our knowledge about how students learn has increased dramatically. We've also moved beyond the industrial era and into the information age, with all of its new demands and skills. Appropriately, schools have begun to move away from sit and get instruction and test out new models of learning. Blended, project based, and collaborative are the words of the day. As the way that we teach begins to change, so have our views of the traditional classrooms. Many wonder if the traditional student desk has a place in the future of education. Alternatives to the traditional classroom set-up with its rows of individual desks abound, and are sure to inspire. Steelcase, a furniture company that has added an education division, has a great video that highlights how thoughtful furniture design can re-invigorate the classroom. Bridgepoint Elementary in Texas is piloting redesigned classrooms that correlate with their new mobile device initiative. This classroom in Killian Middle School made an apparently small change that resulted in dramatically increased collaboration by adding whiteboards, basically, everywhere. Here's a video that highlights what the simple act of adding wheels can do. While it's true that most teachers don't have autonomy over what furniture is placed in their classroom, they can make sure that their principals and administration knows about the options, while making sure that their preference for furniture that fits their learning style is known.
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