Classroom Design

Classroom design is a topic that comes up in education quite often, and it always haunts me. The classroom that I teach in is a computer lab. There are two banks of computers that run perpendicular to my desk, and there are computers on either side of each bank. All of this is permanently built in place in the room. This haunts me because there is no place in the room that I can see every monitor from. It is a real bummer, but luckily it does keep me moving. According to an Education World article this is a positive. The more I am moving around, the more I am “disrupting disruptions”. I just wish I was able to change my proximity to some students and still see what the other students are working on.

Another article, this one on Edutopia, discusses the positives of flexible seating. Flexible seating is a variety of seating options being available to students that include different levels and materials to sit on. The benefits mentioned in the article include involving some movement in to the students day and more engagement because of the seating options. Fortunately for me, I don’t spend my entire day in the computer lab. Part of my day is spent in the woodworking shop, where students spend of much of their time on their feet working with equipment or standing at tables. The second half of my day is spent building a house with students so there is no seating for them. I think having those classes mixes in a great variety of “flexible seating” for my students. They may not be experiencing what is traditionally thought of as flexible seating, but they are getting the same benefits.

Jeff Paige, another engineering teacher at my school. recently added flexible seating in his classroom. Mr. Paige has a computer lab also, but luckily his computers are set up around the outside walls of his room in a horseshoe shape. He removed the regular height tables and chairs from the middle of the room and had them replaced with tall tables. Students can work at the computer tables in a chair, standing at the tall tables, or sitting on the floor. Jeff and his students have really enjoyed the seating options available. If I ever get the chance to redesign my room, that is definitely the arrangement I would like to have.

What are your thoughts on flexible seating? Do you have flexible seating? What is it like or what would you include if you had the option to go to flexible seating?