Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

Mobile Furniture Makes for Engaged Minds

  • 03/01/19
Ki

Buffalo Grove High School in Illinois was selected for KI’s Ruckus Grant Program to measure how furniture impacts student learning.

At Buffalo Grove High School in Illinois, collaborative learning is a pillar of the curriculum.

Teachers and students found that traditional classroom layouts obstructed their ability to integrate group work throughout the school day. “One [student] said they’d rather sit on the floor every day,” says Buffalo Grove teacher Maggie Sheehy. Students said it was a pain to move their chairs and belongings all the time, especially in smaller classrooms.

To address the problem, Buffalo Grove applied to become a test site for global furniture maker KI’s Ruckus Grant Program, a national project measuring how furniture impacts student learning.

One of nine schools selected for the program, Buffalo Grove partnered with KI’s education design experts to revamp its Education Pathway classroom, where students interested in teaching professions learn state-of-the-art pedagogies.

Following winter break, students found their traditional classroom had transformed into an open, flexible learning space with mobile chairs, stools, desks, and lounge furniture where students and teachers could seamlessly change how they sat, learned, and worked together.

The results were striking. After the classroom redesign, Buffalo Grove students reported a 55-percent increase in movement and a 39-percent increase in group work.

“The furniture allows for a lot more mobility and moving of tables into pods of two groups of three,” teacher Corinne Ginder says. “As soon as we got the new furniture, the number of students that I would’ve thought would sit next to each other formed different, collaborative groups.”

Students also reported a 23-percent increase in engagement and participation. Their enthusiasm was palpable.

www.ki.com

This article originally appeared in the School Planning & Management March 2019 issue of Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • California Middle School Breaks Ground on Major Renovation Project

    The Hillsborough City School District (HCSD) in Hillsborough, Calif., recently began construction on new multipurpose and administration facilities for Crocker Middle School, according to a news release.

  • Rethinking K-12 Schools as a Continuous Learning Experience

    Most students move through three or more separate facilities during their K-12 journey, yet the built environments they encounter at each stage have traditionally been designed in isolation, with little continuity in spatial language, learning philosophy, or physical resources. Each new school is a reset with different layouts, learning models, expectations, and ways of moving through a building. The next generation of school design is making the case that the first day of kindergarten and the last day of high school can and should feel connected through common support systems and infrastructure in the physical environment.

  • Virginia Tech Tops Out New College of Engineering Building

    Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., recently celebrated the topping out of Mitchell Hall, which will soon stand as the largest College of Engineering building on campus, according to a news release. The university partnered with Skanska on the 285,500-square-foot facility, which has an expected completion date of winter 2028.

  • Tennessee Middle School Completes Health, Life Safety Renovations

    The Giles County Board of Education in Pulaski, Tenn., recently announced that a series of renovation projects has been completed at Bridgeforth Middle School, according to a news release. The district partnered with Wold Architects & Engineers and Brindley Construction to modernize building systems at one of the district’s oldest schools.