Classroom redesign is being recognized globally as necessary to better increase student's enjoyment levels, engagement, collaboration, and learning. Instead of seeing traditional classrooms in a fixed setting where students are seated in rows facing the front of the room, classrooms are being arranged in multiple ways. As a result of this focus on…

Literacy educators have long understood the importance of designing multicultural instruction for students. However, in an educational context that is both increasingly multilingual, literacy educators are not realizing that multiculturalism isn't enough. This article focuses on practitioner friendly recommendations for understanding linguistic…

Ways in which elementary school teachers turned spaces into environments conducive to learning are described. Included are: (1) student offices; (2) seldom-used stairwells; (3) reading lofts; (4) a "fort" learning center; and (5) a garden spot for quiet study. Ideas for classroom storage are also presented. (CJ)

Presents tips to help teachers best use their preparation time before school opens. Suggestions include making multiple student lists; designing classroom desk arrangements; reviewing cumulative records; adding desktop names and numbers; checking texts; posting correctable schedules; decorating only one bulletin board; creating box-trays for…

Looks at the impact of the classroom environment on student emotions and behavior, offering suggestions for using the physical features of the environment to calm or stimulate students. Shows how the factors of environmental arousal, classroom robustness, and spatial settings may be used to create art classrooms that minimize chances for…

To help architectural students adapt to the realities of the work environment, Gerard Campbell of Holland College has set up his classroom as a design office. Working as a team, the students prepare a complete set of working drawings and construction documents, simulating an actual design process. (JOW)

Presents a list of affordable decorating suggestions for elementary classrooms, including: a reading tepee where students can read quietly; bouquets of construction paper flowers with students' pictures in them; an art center that displays posters of paintings by famous artists; colorful curtains created with bulletin board paper; and a secret…

The author finds that her students concentrate better and become more organized when she allows each to begin the year by selecting and arranging a private work space--an "office"--in the classroom. (SJL)

A classroom floor plan, conforming to theoretically equable features (line of sight bearings, expanding/concentrically diminishing wave forms, vectors proportionate, "time") is presented to show that an equable state exists but is entirely theoretical and as a reminder that different options can exist without diminishing the basic human…

Presented is the stage-set design approach to classroom environment, in which the classroom is designed as a stage so that learning experiences and situations may become life-related and purposeful. (BD)

Techniques for developing a schedule in an early intervention program for handicapped students include setting the stage, selecting and arranging the time blocks, scheduling individual and group programs, and assigning staff. Classroom arrangement decisions must be made and the schedule should be evaluated in relation to individualized education…

The classroom teacher in preschool special education must focus attention in several areas in order to create a smoothly operating and effective classroom environment. Because most of the learning experiences provided for young children are dependent upon interaction with materials, attention must first be given to purchasing and gathering…

This paper describes the activities of a University of California, Davis, advisory group that was charged with monitoring campus classroom environments and proposing corrective action to remedy deficiencies and establish design criteria for consideration in the construction of future instructional facilities. A survey of faculty and students was…

Describes classroom design with reference to doors, ceilings, walls, room furnishings, study tables, floor coverings, clocks, training labs, and halls. (JEG)

These room designs are intended as samples to be used in planning business classrooms. Rooms and furniture are drawn to scale. One page illustrates the various pieces of furniture, with dimensions, that are used in the designs. The number on each piece of furniture identifies it in the room designs. Each room design is 32 feet by 43 feet or 1,376…