Inspire Learning Through Smarter Learning Spaces
“Traditional” classrooms and teaching styles for K-12 learning have become a thing of the past. A dramatic shift towards creative collaboration and more agile spaces is being driven by the need to better engage and inspire students. Discover the latest design trends that foster more hands-on learning—and transform your educational spaces into places where students can thrive.
Classrooms can no longer be designed with permanence or teacher-centered, passive instruction in mind. The successful modern classroom must consider diversity in all its forms—whether that be diversity in students and their learning styles, in different teaching methodologies, or the types of learning content provided.
Learner-Centered Spaces Must Now Be:
- Completely agile, allowing for multiple types of configurations using the same furniture
- Able to accommodate open group
discussion, small group collaboration, or independent learning activities within a moment’s notice to capitalize on and build up engagement
Incorporate easily moveable seating, reconfigurable tables, and mobile display units in classrooms to offer ultimate flexibility for enhancing student motivation and learning outcomes.
Learning is fluid, happening anywhere and at any time. Once students leave the formal classroom, opportunities for learning don’t end. K-12 settings are starting to take design cues from higher education campuses by using in-between spaces to foster further learning and collaboration.
Forward-thinking schools are making the most of these spaces by creating comfortable areas that invite social connection in:
- Multi-purpose rooms
- Common areas
- Corridors
- Open expanses
Furnish these spaces with a blend of soft seating, standing height and mobile tables that encourage further peer interaction and discussion. Provide a variety of individual, small group, and larger group settings to allow school project teams to come together to collaborate or for students to work independently.
Students at all grade levels today prefer more hands-on learning and real-world experiences where they can fully engage with content and apply what they’ve learned.
Allowing students the opportunity to experiment, tinker, take apart, and build fosters a curious mindset and promotes creative problem-solving—skills that benefit young minds well into adulthood. That’s why makerspaces are popping up in educational facilities all over the country.
Supporting hands-on activities requires a different set of tools to spur imagination and inspire a deeper level of learning. Provide furniture that’s not only flexible for reconfiguration but also highly durable to withstand rigorous use. Incorporate different worksurface heights so students can sit or stand. And be sure to supply ample storage for various shaped tools and materials.
Safco offers a comprehensive collection of furniture solutions that address the most important trends impacting K-12 education today. With highly agile and purposeful products that can be acquired quickly and affordably, Safco helps create inspiring learning environments that support evolving needs and active minds.
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