Much of the work I do with spatial design in schools focuses on designing or redesigning classrooms. Most of the spaces I see have a traditional design with rows of old desks, a teacher's desk, storage, a whiteboard, and some type of display technology. In elementary schools, it’s zones and stuff everywhere, with every square inch of the walls being plastered with just about everything you could imagine. Of course, none of this is hard to visualize as classrooms have looked like this for decades.
Whatever it might look like, the classroom still remains the principal spatial location of learning for students. It’s still the place where kids that want to learn show up to engage with the adults that will help them do that. So there is value in improving that space, and making it more capable of supporting an education that resonates and has meaning and value for students.
What that looks like is shaped by the expectations that the school has for the teaching and learning experience. And while that can differ from school to school, there are some fundamental elements of design that can contribute to a new classroom reality.
Here are the factors that I have learned through my experience that can be considered to create a new and effective classroom space.
Comfort: from my pilot classroom experiences, this is always identified as the most important factor that students seek in a new space. Their current classrooms are not comfortable. Comfort translates into less stress when in the space and promotes a readiness to learn.
Flexible and agile furniture: new furniture designs support the ability to reshape spaces quickly to support different pedagogical needs. Classrooms should be supportive of five to six different arrangements that support different engagement methodologies.
Postures: furniture must be able to support different postures and ways to engage in the space, from sitting to standing. New chair designs enable students to sit in different ways (some chairs permit three choices). And I’m a big fan of height adjustable desking that can support sitting as well as standing. My favorite desk for this is the KI Ruckus Cantilever Desk (pneumatic height adjustable).
Teacher presence: classroom space is limited and teachers generally take too much of it. In my experience, teachers generally use a third of the available space in a classroom with their desks (yes, sometimes two), storage, etc. Rethink how teachers engage in the space by providing new desking options for them that increase their mobility and ability to interact with students.
Respite areas: use the real estate reclaimed by rethinking the teacher space to create a classroom respite area composed of soft seating and device recharging capabilities. Provide students with a choice to take a quick break and recharge themselves and get back into learning. This space can also be used for teacher-student and peer-peer conferencing.
Color: it’s time to move past the pervasive use of beige in classrooms. Make color a design tool and something that is not just convenient for the facilities department. Read more about how color influences behavior here.
Generative capacity: each classroom should be a place where kids create things. Provide the desk surface for doing that, along with access to the creative materials that enable students to build and make.
Whiteboarding: whiteboards are the most requested elements of my pilot classroom designs. Students always want more. There are several good options available from KI and Steelcase. Whiteboard surfaces can also be applied to the tops of tables, but I generally avoid that, as that work can get messy with marker dust and they can be scratched.
Biophilic approaches: biophilic design relates to the ability of the design to connect to nature. This can mean anything from providing views of nature to incorporating natural elements into the spatial design. For example, the use of wood and even wood patterns is a biophilic approach. Adding living things (aquariums, plants) into a space is another, among many. This approach has been found to reduce student stress and increase academic performance.
Technology: I’m a fan of mobile large-format interactive displays, such as those available from BenQ (see a great video of the board in action). Using a mobile display, rather than a mounted display, avoids creating a front to the room, which I feel is an important design consideration that contributes to how the room can be reshaped. New displays also offer a greater degree of interaction with the ability to show content from a student device.
Room perimeter: this is easily the most underutilized space in any classroom and is generally used for storage. Use part of this area to create a standing height shelf for students to get up, move and stand while working and interacting.
Walls: if the room perimeter is underutilized, walls are overutilized. Generally, there is too much material placed on classroom walls, to the point of overstimulation. Use wall space to showcase student achievement rather than decorations. Avoid placing needless posters, pictures, and other media on walls that promote overstimulation and negatively impact cognitive load.
Storage: teachers will never have enough storage in any space so work with teachers to define appropriate storage for classroom materials (both course needs as well as daily needs) and for personal storage especially if teachers share a room.
The goal of all of this is to create spaces that students want to spend time in. My goal is always to create spaces that say students, support their needs, and showcase their accomplishments. The thirteen aspects of classroom design listed above can be applied differently to meet the needs of each individual design project and be used to create spaces that help students thrive.