9 minute read
Furniture for the MLE: Creating the right
Creating the right environment for modern teaching and learning
School learning environments have evolved since the not-solong-ago days of desks in row upon row – or, even earlier, simple wooden tables and basic benches. And just as pencil and paper has given way to laptops and tablets, and inks and paints have been replaced by pixels and digital graphics, so too has Furniture for the Modern Learning Environment adapted to reflex changing styles and approaches to classroom teaching and learning.
While the term ‘modern learning environment’ (MLE) is unique to New Zealand, similar concepts – also described as ‘flexible learning environments’, ‘innovative learning spaces’, and the like – have become the focus of increasing interest and research across the world.
This is not simply an ephemeral ‘buzz-word’ phenomenon; rather, it is focussed on obvious (and yet long overlooked) questions such: How does the classroom ‘learning environment’ help or hinder student success? And, does the modern school environment reflex the real world – especially the real modern working environment – that students will eventually enter?
In today’s ever-changing, everadapting world, technology rules supreme, and it is unlikely that today’s students will encounter the same workplaces or enter the same professions as earlier generations. Yet some modern school classrooms still reflect the set-up of obsolete work practices, with furniture arrangements more reflective of decades-old factory floors or typing pools of the ‘Mad Men’ era.
Openness and freedom
By contrast, a modern learning environment should reflect the future not the past, with greater openness and freedom of movement to access resources (especially digital technology) and to encourage more collaborative, more active and more enquirybased learning. Here, flexibility is key, with creative layout and thoughtfully designed furniture crucial to turning simple spaces into successful learning areas.
Such versatility should also reflect not only the different tasks and activities being undertaken by students, but also the individual learning styles of these self-same young people – for example, beanbags in the reading zone for more leisurely readers, higher seats with rotating bases for their more high-energy peers.
Flexibility also allows for choice, with students themselves able to choose whether to work sitting down at a traditional desk, or standing and writing on an elevated one, or even kicking off their shoes and working on the floor. Again, this is a reflection of the move away from regimenting student behaviour, and for encouraging students more towards autonomy and responsible decision-making.
A modern learning environment, therefore, is student-focussed, with a central aim to foster and maintain student engagement, and – most especially – to develop student agency, including the personal qualities of critical thinking and creativity, empathy and interpersonal and intercultural awareness.
We all want to see students thrive in the most inspiring learning spaces – ones that give students every opportunity to achieve their best.
A common mis-step, however, is to get caught up in the bright lights and aesthetics of new space planning. Before you start, there are a few considerations that should be top of the list, while still working within your physical and budgetary constraints.
The most important consideration when designing a space is, as author Simon Sinek says, “start with why”. Your overall teaching and learning strategy is critical – first you agree your values and then work through the process of defining your strategy. This is key to designing a successful learning space.
If you are developing competencies around communication and collaboration, then what practices are supporting this? For example, are you teamteaching? Do you practise flipped learning? Is your learning inquiry-based or play-based?
Then it’s time to consider learning styles and activities in your space. There will be cultural differences within the group, students with special needs, those that prefer to collaborate and others who prefer quiet spaces. Similarly think about the activities in the space and what collaboration, creativity and critical thinking might look like in action.
How will classroom technology be used, are you catering for wet areas in the space and how will the students move from indoor to outdoor activities seamlessly?
Helpful observations from furniture manufacturers include:
• Single desks are giving way to more flexible table solutions. Students are choosing to work at standing height surfaces, or on the floor. Teachers, too, need flexibility and are choosing mobile stations that take up less space and can be moved easily around or between rooms.
• Writeable surfaces are increasingly popular in the classroom. They encourage students to be more creative and less inhibited as they work through solutions before documenting their work through photos. Whiteboard tables are a great way to facilitate interaction with teacher and students, and between groups of students.
• And structure is still important – comfortable chairs paired with hard work surfaces at the correct height have their place in classrooms and should be included in the overall mix.
In fact, modern learning environments are no longer the big unknown factor for schools. Over the past few years, schools have become more mindful that environmental factors in these spaces play a huge role in the comfort levels and engagement of students. Light, sound, air quality and colour all have an impact on how well the space functions, particularly when it is busy with a room full of inspired students.
While none of this is possible without teacher input and engaging activity content, well planned furniture design and layout can lead to the creation of interesting ‘activity pockets’, where equipment and resources are contained within easy reach, and in which furniture can easily be moved to suit task requirements.
Nevertheless, the teacher’s role also includes selecting furniture and furniture layout to complement their teaching styles and learning strategies; for example, repositioning furniture items for co-teaching or to enhance flippedlearning.
Nor need the students be the only ones ‘going mobile’ – increasingly, teachers themselves are cottoning on to the advantages of classroom flexibility, for example with their own mobile desks. School News asked industry experts in New Zealand to pass on advice to schools and educators keen to create or enhance modern learning environments in their classrooms.
Industry perspectives Olivia Watkins, marketing coordinator at Scholar Furniture
While furniture should be functional and ergonomic for particular age groups, it’s important to think about pedagogy and learning vision, and teaching styles and subjects when choosing appropriate furniture items.
Flexible and multi-purpose pieces are key - versatile and movable furniture can easily be converted to suit different uses by both teachers and students, and by groups or individuals.
Also consider technology zones within the classroom, including charging and storing devices.
With colour, too much can be over-stimulating, too little may be boring. Neutral tones with injections of colour – say, neutral table surfaces with coloured frames – are increasingly trendy.
High benches, tiered seating and stools, and writable surfaces are popular, as is movement, with teachers opting for soft seating to allow gentle motion and encourage creativity.
Today’s classrooms prepare students for later life, so providing personal choices in how and where to work mimics the crucial problemsolving, critical thinking and decision-making skills of modern work environments.
Karen Hansen, national sales manager for Lundia
New and refurbished schools are increasingly focussed on good design and high-quality products, and with this in mind it pays to choose a specialist furnishing company who can advise right from the initial architectural design stage.
For example, a school wanting shelving and storage for soft and hard cover books, big books, picture books, magazines and puzzles should choose a company that core focus is in this area.
Another important consideration, one that is of growing importance to environmentally-conscious schools, is that the materials used come from reputable sources – for example, shelving that is built from plantation-grown, sustainably harvested Radiata Pine and is verified by EnviroSpec.
Using such products can help a school achieve Green Star rating for its fit-outs.
With school furniture, comfort = concentration
Furnware have been manufacturing in New Zealand for over 80 years, but it was our revolutionary Bodyfurn® chair that really changed the game when it came to education.
We’d looked everywhere and couldn’t find any meaningful data that showed how the size and makeup of children had changed over the years. So, we travelled the country measuring 20,000 children of all shapes and sizes. The results were jaw-dropping and completely changed the way we designed and built furniture.
We were convinced there was a better way to help students learn – and we found it. Our award-winning Bodyfurn® range was a direct result of the extensive research we undertook. The innovative designs reflected the ways students of all sizes used school furniture.
Bodyfurn® has stood the test of time. This dynamic chair that moves with the student, improving comfort, physical wellbeing, focus and concentration, is just as popular today.
Lundia, a shelving and storage specialist company in New Zealand, has been supplying storage solutions for more than 50 years.
New and refurbished schools themselves are now being rolled out with good design in mind that demands high quality product, says Lundia spokesperson Karen Hansen. Lundia is being chosen as a preferred product as it provides a diff erence from what has been on off er in the past. Karen says Lundia “sticks to what they are good at” - shelving and storage for libraries, resource rooms, administration, whiteboard and storage units for the classroom.
Lundia can get on board with school storage requirements at any point, from working with the architect at the initial design stage or consulting directly with the school to produce the desired outcome that works for the school.
Smart Design + Smarter Thinking
Scholar Furniture launches online store
Brand new to the education furniture market, Scholar Furniture can help your school save money with a wide range of innovative, quality and aff ordable education furniture.
It’s now even easier to purchase school furniture - Scholar has just launched an online store.
Free freight is off ered to urban addresses nationwide, along with a best price guarantee and volume discounts.
The Scholar range includes desks, chairs, tables, storage, ottomans and collaboration furniture, along with a huge range of modern staff room and off ice furniture options.
Scholar Furniture is a New Zealand owned and operated business, part of the well-established Mobel Group (who also operate Modern Off ice and Off ice Furniture Warehouse) and have been in the furniture industry for 11 years.
Whether you are making the switch to an innovative learning environment or just need a few items to give your classroom a lift or accommodate extra students, Scholar can help.
Buy online or contact their education specialists who can help you design and plan your ideal classroom space.
