Abstract:

In Spain there are approximately 8,300,000 students in general non-university education, the Valencian Region represents 10.7% of these students, who will joine the classrooms in September, at the 1417 pre-school and primary education centers, and more than 1000 centers of secondary, baccalaureate and vocational training, 66.6% public and 33.3% concerted or private.

In a scenario with great uncertainty, the month of June 2020 was critical to analyze and operationalize the strategies that will be embodied in the centers when the new scholar year starts. For this reason, the "Back to the Classrooms" project was carried out to test the alternative preventive measures for students and teachers returning to face-to-face classes. Criteria of comfort and social harmony were assessed, always preserving the safety measures established by the sanitary authorities at that moment.

Objectives:
The aim of the study was to test, in real conditions, and from the users perspective (both pupils and teachers) the preventive measures of social distance in real classrooms, using different desk distribution and the assessment of three safety elements that are candidates for being used in schools when social distance could not be maintained: dividers, face screens and masks.

Methodology:
The project was developed in June 2020. During this time period, 20 teachers and 52 students from the primary, secondary and high school stages analyzed five different classroom layouts: individual configuration, mirror configuration, "U" configuration, row configuration and group configuration.
During the experimental sessions, carried out in real classrooms, the participants used the three safety elements analyzed (dividers, face screen and mask).
Two schools, one of the pre-school and primary stages, and one of the secondary, baccalaureate and vocational training stages, participated in the project.

Keywords:

Covid19, Preventive Measures, Social Distance, Table Dividers, Facial Screens, Masks, User Experience.