Record Details

DESIGNING CLASSROOM FURNITURE FOR PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN (3-5 YEARS)

KrishiKosh

View Archive Info
 
 
Field Value
 
Title DESIGNING CLASSROOM FURNITURE FOR PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN (3-5 YEARS)
 
Creator MEENAKSHI, J
 
Contributor RADHA RANI, P
 
Subject DESIGNING, CLASSROOM, FURNITURE, PRE-SCHOOL, CHILDREN
 
Description Children are the wealth of every country. In every society, children use school
furniture extensively during their vital period of human physical development. Classroom
features, such as workspace and personal space play an important role in children’s growth
and performance as this age marks the period of anatomical, physiological and
psychological developments. Pre-school children are expected to sit about 30 percent of
their time during school. Sitting occupies a large percentage of waking hours at an age
when the human body is still in growth (Dillon, 1976). Children’s dimensions vary widely
across different age groups, within the same age groups, between genders and between
different cultures (Jeong & Park, 1990). Bureau of Indian Standards (IS 4837: 1990) did not
establish the standard dimensions of classroom furniture for 3 – 5 years. There are fewer
studies conducted so far on designing classroom furniture for pre-school children. Hence, it
has been felt the need to conduct research work on “Designing Classroom Furniture for Preschool
Children of 3 – 5 years” with the following objectives.
1. To study the design features of existing type of classroom furniture in the selected
pre-schools of Hyderabad and Secunderabad.
2. To identify problems faced by pre-school children using existing furniture in the
selected pre-schools.
3. To design ergonomic classroom furniture for pre-school children.
In the present study, the research design followed was exploratory type of
research. The samples for the study selected were pre-school children, class teachers and
parents of pre-school children. Ten schools were selected randomly from 5 mandals of twin
cities of Hyderabad & secunderabad and ten children from each selected pre-school were
2
selected by using simple random technique. Thirty-two class teachers and 50 parents of
pre-school children were selected by using quota sampling and purposive sampling
respectively. Tools used for the study were observation schedule and interview schedules
to collect data about the existing classroom furniture design features, preferences of class
teachers and to find out the problems faced by pre-school children while using the existing
classroom furniture. The data were collected by using the framed tools.
The findings of the study showed that about 50 percent of the pre-school
classrooms were occupied by desk and chair combination type of classroom furniture, 35
percent of classrooms were using bench and table type of furniture and only about 15
percent classrooms were occupied with sled desk model furniture. The design features of
the existing classroom furniture were observed and their dimensions were recorded. The
existing classroom furniture dimensions were compared with recommended classroom
furniture dimensions and the results showed that there was a difference in chair height of
about 10 cm higher in the existing furniture model ‘desk and chair’, seat depths were also
found to be deeper than the recommended furniture dimensions. Desk height of the models
was found to be higher than the recommended dimensions. Observations regarding the
fitness of classroom furniture to pre-school children revealed that majority of the children
were sitting on the furniture, which was higher and deeper for them to perform classroom
activities. Forward leaning posture was adopted by majority of the children while performing
writing activity and interestingly children adopted supported upright sitting posture and
shifted to forward leaning posture while performing listening activity at the end of
observation. Forty six percent of the students adopted postures like forward leaning and 40
percent adopted backward leaning at the end of observation during reading activity. Most of
the parents of the pre-school children reported that their children were experiencing slight
neck pain and pain in legs and knees.
Based on the class teachers’ preferences about the classroom furniture design
and the standard anthropometry of Indian schoolchildren of age 3 – 5 years (Ray et al,
1995), three models of furniture designs namely Individual desk & chair with and without
adjustability feature and Double desk & chair were developed using Revit Architecture 2009
software. Adjustability feature like adjustable seat height and table height were designed
and smooth curved edges were given to both the chair and desk unit. Wood is used for chair
and desk surfaces and metal for body frame of the furniture were considered to be the
material for the recommended designs. It can be concluded that designing classroom
furniture based on the anthropometrics of the user group make them comfortable while
performing different activities in their classroom, which in turn enhances learning and
decreases the effect of musculo-skeletal symptoms at an earlier stage of life.
 
Date 2016-07-30T11:06:25Z
2016-07-30T11:06:25Z
2009
 
Type Thesis
 
Identifier http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/70221
 
Language en
 
Relation D8539;
 
Format application/pdf
 
Publisher ACHARYA N.G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD