Page 4 - TCW Education Experience Brochure

KEY DESIGN ELEMENTS IN LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS
The design approach in education spaces is changing, environments where students can easily move around and rearrange their accommodation
is vital in promoting greater focus and more successful engagement.
We understand that spaces and the furniture within them must be provided to support different learning styles.
CHOICE
Choice is important because it gives students ownership of their learning, which leads to deeper engagement. Students are more invested in their education if they feel in charge of their own learning.
Choice also makes classrooms more inclusive: Something as simple as having multiple seating styles to choose from can accommodate different learning preferences and helps students feel more welcome. For these reasons, learning spaces should give students plenty of choices in where and how they’ll do their work, with a variety of seating options, tools, and materials.
Classrooms that include multiple seating options — such as standing desks, clusters for small-group learning, soft seating, and traditional desks and chairs — help students make their own choices to support how they learn best.
EDUCATION EXPERIENCE
COMFORT
To make sure students can work comfortably while they’re seated, tables, desks, and chairs should
be ergonomically designed and age-appropriate. Because some students are sensitive to certain types of materials, learning spaces also should offer seating options with different fabrics and surface types. This gives students who have sensory processing disorders a variety of options to choose from. Many students on the autism spectrum have sensory processing issues and are overly sensitive to touch.
Active learning environments can be somewhat noisy. The noise this creates can make it hard for some students to focus. TCW supplies products that minimize noise and help students focus, such as sound- absorbing panels and sensory pods that give students a quiet, private space to work, relax, or escape from sensory overload.
VERSATILITY
Learning spaces must be able to support a wide range of teaching methods, learning activities, and student needs. This can vary from direct instruction to the entire class or to a subgroup of students, while at other times students are having a class discussion, working on projects in small groups, or working individually.
The design of the learning space should be able to facilitate each of these activities effectively. Create moveable furniture on wheels and modular pieces that easily can be to support different types of learning activities
TCW