THE ENVIRONMENT AS A FACILITATOR OF LEARNING. DEVELOPMENT OF FURNITURE FOR THE PARTICIPATORY CLASSROOM

The objective of the project was to develop solutions according to the requirements and values of the different pedagogical approaches, validating the influence of furniture on the acquisition of skills associated with learning: attention, concentration, understanding, expression, creation, motivation and interaction.

The study started from the analysis carried out by Barret (2015) about the impact of classroom design on student learning, extracting some keys for the design of classrooms. Specifically, furniture and features in the classroom that were ergonomic and comfortable for children correlated significantly with progress in learning.

In the first phase of the project, a co-creation workshop was held with 10 education professionals in which the current problems in the equipment of the classrooms were analysed, the requirements that the development of new school furniture had to incorporate were identified, and conceptual product proposals were generated. Once the prototypes have been developed, the validation consisted in the use of the new furniture line for 1 month and by 32 students and 9 secondary school teachers. The furniture was analysed and the Active Learning Post-Occupation Evaluation scale (AL-POE) was applied, which assesses compliance with criteria related to learning.

In the project, a new line of furniture was developed aimed at active and collaborative pedagogical approaches. This covers the lack or limitation of standardised offer according to the different activities and levels of education that are being developed in the classrooms. Moreover, the offer of these products in a personalised way by architecture and design studios moves away from the economic possibilities of many educational centres.

The requirements and solutions that guided the development of the new furniture line were: the need for open space, availability of different configurations, enhancing collaborative and visual work (exhibitions), including socialisation activities in the classroom, coexistence of different furniture for different activities, that promotes the postural change, movement and use of all the dimensions of the classroom, guaranteeing the comfort, lightness to transport, silent and folding.