eMINTS equipment

See more descriptions, pros and cons and photos of possible room arrangements for technology-rich classrooms. General issues Rows and columns Pods and tables U-shaped arrangements

Room arrangements

The arrangement of furniture defines the classroom. The placement of furniture in the classroom demarcates student work areas and common areas from other parts of the classroom. Because of their size, the use of computer desks and tables raises a unique set of constraints over classrooms filled with traditional student desks. This section reviews some of the ways that different classrooms have arranged the furniture in their classrooms: rows and columns, pods and tables, and U-shaped arrangements.

General issues

Room arrangement should support the goal of the eMINTS classroom — integration of computers into routine instruction. This implies that rooms be arranged for accessibility to the workstations. It also implies that all students are able to shift their focus from the smart board to their workstations and back as the instructional situation warrants.

Creating this integration requires clear sightlines. Ideally, all students should be able to see the smart board from their work areas. In addition, teachers should be able to see the students (although not necessarily see the materials on student monitors) from different areas of the room. Consequently, final decisions about room arrangement should allow all students to see and be seen.

Rows and columns

This is the most traditional arrangement of furniture. Rows of tables are arranged so they are parallel to the smart board. Columns of tables are arranged so they are perpendicular to the smart board.

• Classrooms arranged in rows and columns produce aisles that teachers and students can navigate to assist and confer with each other.
• The arrangement of rows and/or columns provides the most efficient use of classroom space. Judicious spacing of rows and columns can maximize the number of students a classroom can accommodate.
• However, rooms with solid banks of rows or columns are difficult for teachers to quickly navigate. To confer with students in the next row, teachers often have to walk to the end of one aisle and down the next. Where possible, a center aisle should be planned into the room to improve traffic patterns throughout the room.
• In classrooms with rows and columns, aisle space becomes an issue. Narrow aisles are difficult for teachers and students to move through, while wide aisles waste available classroom space.

Pods and tables

This room arrangement groups student workstations together around the room. This arrangement creates many aisles and walkways between the tables, but it also places some students with their backs to the smart board.

• This arrangement allows for more extensive work groups, i.e., among the all of the students seated at table rather just the two students seated at any given workstation.
• The arrangement of pods and tables in a classroom frees floor space for other activities. It allows for alternative work areas, e.g., reading pits or a common worktable.
• This arrangement allows for a centralization of cabling, since the tables can be organized around cable poles.
• However, in many pod and table arrangements, some students will sit with their backs to the smart board. The consensus of the CIS is that having students sit perpendicular to the smart board is acceptable, but having students sit so that they have to turn completely around to see the smart board is not. Pods and tables should be arranged to minimize the number of students who have to turn around to see the smart board.
• The arrangement of pods and tables is difficult to achieve in some rooms. Occasionally, the use of this arrangement reduces the absolute number of tables that can fit in a room.

U-shaped arrangements

This arrangement places student workstations around a central area. In most cases, this central area is the space surrounding the smart board. In other cases, the student workstations are installed against classroom walls, defining the entire classroom as the "central" area.

• An advantage of the arrangement is status of the central area. Potentially, this area gives the teacher easy access to all student workstations.
• Installing the student workstations along classroom walls open up the entire classroom to other student activities. In such classrooms, teachers report being able to see the majority of the student monitors whenever they walk through the work area.
• Having a solid bank of tables (as the U-shape implies) reduces the number of cable drops necessary to achieve connectivity. Having all workstations installed against a wall eliminates the need for freestanding cable drops all together.
• However, this arrangement can produce difficult sightlines, particularly when students are seated on the interior of the "U".
• When computers are installed against a classroom wall, they must leave their computers for group instruction. Often, such arrangements combine computer furniture with traditional school desks, thus doubling the amount of furniture in the classroom.

Reviewed June 30, 2003.