Photos courtesy of The Wellington School
The Wellington School is implementing a new classroom design that accommodates everyone from the visual to kinesthetic learner.
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The private school, located in Upper Arlington, already has three classrooms and one large lab space outfitted with the unique concept. Head of School Rob Brisk says the school expects to convert another 13 as quickly as possible.
“We started to look at different kinds of furniture that would add to flexibility, connectedness and mobility,” Brisk says. “That was the impulse.”
So, with the help of generous donors, Wellington got to work. Brisk says the school looked at studies and spoke to teachers and students in search of what type of learning would best benefit students.
The survey found students wanted a classroom that would allow them to group up in clusters, work in teams, take part in individual research and use technology.
“We looked at classrooms most schools have. That (setup) serves so few of our educational aims,” Brisk says, adding that most traditional classrooms have stationary desks that face toward the front of the room.
Wellington is adding furniture with wheels, and chairs crafted out of more comfortable materials.
“We wanted (chairs) that could be moved and easily regrouped,” Brisk says. “Ones that could be placed to listen to the teacher, but also be set up in all sorts of different ways, like for group work.”
The rooms also feature a higher level of technology than a traditional classroom. It’s easier for the students to share ideas with one another and communicate their instructions electronically, enabling them to share multiple pieces of work at the same time so they can collaborate, communicate and critique each other’s work.
“There’s a constant ability to connect with the outside world,” Brisk says.
Smart Boards have been in Wellington’s classrooms for many years, but they’re always in front of the room, allowing the traditional setup that is no longer as appealing. The most popular mobile pieces in the classrooms are rolling white boards. It’s a fairly simple and common concept, and it’s certainly not a new one, Brisk says, but it’s made a world of difference to the students and how they learn and present their individual thoughts.
“They allow students to post their work and share their ideas for critique and discussion,” Brisk says.
In the new classrooms, technology is mobile. Screens can be viewed from all angles and directions, and students can plug their computers into a large screen so their work can be viewed by the entire class. There are also charging stations throughout, rather than the traditional handful of electrical outlets.
The school expects to turn to the lower grades after this work is done.
“This is just the starting point,” Brisk says. “We could not have done it without the donors, and we’re always deeply thankful to them.”
Brisk says the school has received excellent feedback from the students and teachers.
“It’s been transformative for many of them, in terms of the classroom experience,” he says, adding that many students are often eager to use the large lab space for their classroom activities.
Because the classroom can be reconfigured by easily sliding around its furniture, one space can look three different ways in the same hour. This simple approach can make the classroom space accessible to all types of learners.
“We do not believe in a lockstep approach, with 16-20 students all in heavy desks that are facing forward,” Brisk says. “There’s the expectation that students are all moving forward in the same way.”
If you are in a fixed, immobile classroom, you are only serving one kind of learner, he says.
For the most part, the reconfigured classrooms are designed for multi-departmental use. For example, a computer science class could use the space, but so could an art and design class or an English class.
“You can use the same facilities in some intriguing and different ways,” Brisk says.
Hannah Bealer is an assistant editor. Feedback welcome at gbishop@cityscememediagroup.com.
