NAPERVILLE — At first blush, the third-grade classrooms at Prairie Elementary look any other classroom in the school with students, teachers, desks, tables, chairs, cabinets and white boards.
What makes these a bit different is the ease at which the furnishings can be reconfigured to encourage students to work together.
Just as startup tech companies revolutionized office space by creating workspaces that focus on collaboration with comfortable seating and entire walls covered by white boards, the academic world is embracing that same spirit, according to Gregory Cooney, vice president and director of marketing at Frank Cooney Co. The Wood Dale-based company is working with the Naperville School District 203 to create classrooms that will help prepare students for an ever-changing workplace.
He said schools are trending away from the traditional lecture-based method of educating students and moving toward a model where students learn collaboratively.
Prairie Elementary is one of the schools in Naperville District 203 called on to test what might become the elementary classroom of the future throughout the district.
Not only are the Prairie third-graders and their teachers physically trying out the furniture, the classrooms are part of the district’s digital learning experience where each student is given their own devise. With three classes of third-graders at Prairie, each teacher and her classroom was assigned a different operating system: Apple, Google or Microsoft.
Principal Tracy Dvorchak is thrilled her school is part of both testing programs.
“We feel really lucky,” she said. “It’s nice to do them together to see the dual impact of both initiatives.”
Are you sitting down?
Just two months into the school year, Dvorchak said the teachers already are raving about some of the furniture pieces, such as the pie-shaped desks.
Dvorchak said the new desks not only give teachers more options to align students into rows for whole class discussions or in smaller pods for group assignments, but also allow students to experience more personal space, even when working within a group.
In the past, writing on the desk most definitely was no-no. Now, white board material is incorporated into the desktop so students can write using dry erase markers and erase their work when done.
Some taboos can be difficult to overcome.
“I keep telling the teachers it’s OK to write on the desks, but they’re still a bit apprehensive,” Dvorchak said.
A big favorite is the Hokki (pronounced hockey) stool. The stools initially were slated to be used with the collaborative learning tables just outside the classroom, but students and teachers fell in love with the strange stools. Dvorchak said they’re so popular, the school decided to order six more per classroom to use inside at the guided reading tables.
Hokki, which look more like large board game pieces than they do stools, allow pupils to rock in any direction while working at their desk or at a table.
“For years teachers told us we had to sit still in class. That’s actually not the case,” Cooney said. “Studies show moving stimulates blood flow and aids student learning.”
Dvorchak said Hokki stools are perfect for busy students who thrive when moving. She said the rocking motion is so slight, it is not disruptive.
And unlike stability balls that can take up a lot of room and stand out in a classroom, the Hokki stools are small and far less obtrusive. Dvorchak said most importantly the students who might benefit from Hokki stools at their desks wouldn’t feel singled-out because the stools would be incorporated at locations throughout the classroom.
Cooney added that sitting on a ball requires balance.
“And a Hokki stool won’t roll away when you get up,” he said.
Testing tablets
While just a handful of schools are testing the furniture, digital devices are being examined in 41 classrooms at 13 different schools throughout the district.
The tablet tests are still a work in progress.
Dvorchak emphasized the goal is for teachers to use the tablets to enhance learning, not replace it.
For example, third-graders were assigned to create a movie on a particular topic they were studying in science. Instead of spending time during class listening to every presentation, the teacher could assign students to watch the movies on their own time and type up a brief critique on their tablets.
Dvorchak said lessons like that can be performed either as homework or during times when a teacher might be working with a small group of students in a guided reading session.
She said tablets give teachers more flexibility.
As to which tablet is best, it remains a toss-up. While teachers often are more familiar with Apple products, Dvorchak said Chrome has many new educational applications available.
Time will tell.
