Criteria: Systematic review of children’s school furniture across 25 research studies, emphasis on furniture dimension and design for student health and comfort
Key Takeaway: This review underscores the significant impact of ergonomically designed school furniture on children’s health and academic performance. Key recommendations include adjustable furniture that caters to children’s growth and specially designed desks that alleviate spinal stress.
Summation and Insights: This study systematically reviewed a number of research papers concerned with the effects of school furniture on children. The studies featured in this review focused on two components of the furniture, its dimensions and its design. Taking into account the dimensions and design of school furniture means considering data on the anthropometrics of children (a term that refers to the physical aspects of human bodies, such as our growth rate and our various bodily measurements). Today, the configuration of many school desks forces children to sit at an awkward, upright posture of 90 degrees and can lead to biomechanical problems, discomfort, and pain; prolonged sitting at such an angle is also related to a lack of lumbar support and lower back pain in both children and adults. In addition, furniture with fixed dimensions may pose particular problems for children, who are experiencing all kinds of growth as their bodies go through several stages of development.
The research team examined children’s school furniture across twenty-five studies. The studies that were chosen explored student academic performance in relation to the furniture, students’ physical responses to the furniture itself (such as feeling comfortable or experiencing pain), and finally, a combination of both academic performance and children’s physical responses to school furniture. Overall, all three categories recorded positive effects for children when traditional school furniture was replaced with furniture that considered children’s anthropometric characteristics, or the specific dimensions of their bodies. The most salient findings revolved around physical responses. Furniture designed to fit children’s bodies consistently produced better posture and less discomfort or pain.
The research team, while acknowledging that the studies they reviewed were diverse in their contexts, methods, and results, made two major recommendations for children’s school furniture. The first is that school furniture should be anthropometric, or designed in a way that takes into account children’s younger, growing bodies and specific measurements. This might include strategies such as buying adjustable furniture, with the clear understanding that children will need time set aside for instruction on how to adjust the furniture. A second recommendation by the research team is the use of a specific type of desk. The researchers endorse the use of a desk that has the possibility of a tilt angle and a slight concave curve in the front, ideally accompanied by a high saddle chair. Desks of this construction are preferable, given that they reduce spinal loading and lower back pain problems. All of the studies reviewed suggest that children’s health and school experience can benefit from an ergonomic assessment of the furniture in their classrooms.
Resource: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00140139.2016.1170889
Year: 2017
Author: Castellucci, H. I., Arezes, P. M., Molenbroek, J. F. M., de Bruin, R., & Viviani, C.
Primary Author: Castellucci, Héctor Ignacio: https://scholar.google.pt/citations?user=rb-kTcQAAAAJ&hl=en