DESIGNING CLASSROOM FURNITURE FOR PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN (3-5 YEARS)
KrishiKosh
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Title |
DESIGNING CLASSROOM FURNITURE FOR PRE-SCHOOL CHILDREN (3-5 YEARS)
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Creator |
MEENAKSHI, J
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Contributor |
RADHA RANI, P
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Subject |
DESIGNING, CLASSROOM, FURNITURE, PRE-SCHOOL, CHILDREN
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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. |
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Date |
2016-07-30T11:06:25Z
2016-07-30T11:06:25Z 2009 |
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Type |
Thesis
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Identifier |
http://krishikosh.egranth.ac.in/handle/1/70221
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Language |
en
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Relation |
D8539;
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Format |
application/pdf
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Publisher |
ACHARYA N.G. RANGA AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY RAJENDRANAGAR, HYDERABAD
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