Classroom Design Specialist: Social Distancing

Classroom Design Specialist: Social Distancing
  • Performance Task
  • Created by Defined Learning
  • 24 Student Check-ins
  • 4 Products

A school district is redesigning their classrooms to allow for social distancing so the students can return to school during the COVID-19 pandemic. The school leaders are looking for ideas about how to redesign the classroom while keeping all the students as well as the teacher safe from getting the virus.

Driving Question: How can we create a classroom environment that keeps everyone safe during the Covid-19 pandemic?

  • What are the steps interior designers follow in their process?
  • What things do interior designers need to consider when creating a space?
  • What mathematics is needed to be an interior designer?


Online submission requires login. Log In

What are the steps interior designers follow in their process?
What things do interior designers need to consider when creating a space?
What mathematics is needed to be an interior designer?


Big Idea

  • Engineering design is a creative process that anyone can do which may result in new inventions and innovations.

  • Geometric relationships can be described, analyzed, and classified based on spatial reasoning and/or visualization.

  • Measurement attributes can be quantified, and estimated using customary and non-customary units of measure.

Essential Questions

  • How is the engineering process and problem solving used when creating new inventions and innovations?

  • How are spatial relationships, including shape and dimension, used to draw, construct, model, and represent real situations or solve problems?

  • In what ways are the mathematical attributes of objects or processes measured, calculated and/or interpreted?

G.R.A.S.P.

Goal
Your goal is to redesign a typical classroom to allow for social distancing of the students and their teacher. 

Role

You are a classroom design specialist, and your role is to create classroom spaces that will be safe, as well as a comfortable and inviting space for learning.

Audience

Your audience will be the parents, school leaders and School Board Members. You will need to create a number of products that help explain your design ideas and persuade the audience that your idea provides for the safety of the students.   

Situation

Classrooms are the place where students spend the majority of their time while in school. Most students walk into the classroom and think little about what makes up the classroom. The physical space within a classroom is very important for student learning. When architects, teachers, and school leaders design classrooms they have to think about many different ideas.  

So much uncertainty remains as K-12 schools plan for the reopening of their buildings to students and teachers. To ensure the safety of students, teachers and staff, everything will look very different — from classrooms and cafeterias to playgrounds and social spaces. The coronavirus has forever changed education. 

Social distancing in a school may include limiting classroom and meeting room capacity, repurposing larger unused spaces like gyms and libraries for classes, having students remain in one location while teachers move from class to class, adding barriers, changing the configuration and placement of desks to observe six feet physical distancing guidelines and ensure people aren’t facing one another, frequent cleaning and more support for those still learning from home.




Classroom Layout

Create a layout showing the design of your proposed classroom. A typical classroom is 900 square feet. To determine the amount of desks that can be included in the classroom with social distancing, you need to be sure that each person (including the teacher) will have 6 feet of personal space in every direction.

How many students will fit in your classroom with social distancing?

Show the layout of all of the desks as well as the teacher desk for your classroom. Be sure to include all of the safety equipment that will be in the classroom and where they will be located. Remember to include all units and labels so the layout is easy to read by the school administrators and board members.

Scale Drawing

A typical classroom measures 900 square feet. In order to maintain social distancing, desks must be placed at least 6 feet apart in all 4 directions.
You are to create a scale drawing of your classroom showing the size of the room, student desks, the teacher’s desk and any other furniture that will be included.

This drawing should be to an appropriate scale showing all measurements of furniture, equipment, and space between. Do not forget to include a ratio for your dimensions as compared to actual measurements with appropriate units. This scale drawing will be used to present your classroom design at the school board meeting.

Multimedia Presentation

You will be presenting your socially-distanced classroom design at the local school board meeting for their approval. Create an electronic presentation along with notes for yourself to use when presenting to the school board as well as the public at the meeting. Your presentation should include your design, the numbers of students who will be in each classroom and how you determined that social distancing will be achieved through your layout. Be sure to include the math calculations that you used to determine the placement of the desks. You want to make your explanations of the math clear and thorough for your audience.


Since your presentation will be shown as a Zoom meeting throughout the community, it would also be beneficial to end your presentation with other ways that both students and teachers can help keep themselves and others safe from this disease.

Public Service Announcement

School leaders around the world are continually making decisions about opening schools to students, educators and staff. Designing a classroom to maximize safety is important, but the humans using the school will need to do their part to keep everyone safe.
As part of your work in re-designing classroom space, you have also been asked to provide a public service announcement (PSA) for the district’s website. This PSA will be an informative and persuasive message regarding student and adult expectations in school. This announcement should outline expectations for students and adults in school and provide visual examples to reinforce what is expected. Making these decisions based upon science is important for schools and communities.

Please use the following articles to make your recommendations for expectations of everyone in school:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). CoronaVirus Disease 2019: Frequently Asked Questions: Spread, Prevention.

World Health Organization (2020). How is Covid-19 transmitted?

Online submission requires login. Log In

Restate the problem in your own words.

Defined Learning Videos

Defined Learning Resources

Considerations for Schools

Source: www.cdc.gov Author: CDC.

How COVID-19 Spreads

Source: www.cdc.gov Author: CDC.

What Does Good Classroom Design Look Like in the Age of Social Distancing?

Source: www.edsurge.com Author: Dillon, Robert.

Social distancing in the classroom

Source: www.wogx.com Author: Wogx

Online submission requires login. Log In

Public Service Announcement

  • How do these preventative measures prevent transmission?
  • How is Covid-19 Transmitted?
  • How can people help prevent the transmission of Covid-19?

Multimedia Presentation

  • How does your design ensure social distancing?
  • What types of safety precautions can people take to ensure their safety as well as the safety of others from COVID-19?

Classroom Layout

  • How many square feet of space will each student need to have to safely distance from others?
  • What is the length and width of your classroom?
  • How can you determine how many students will fit in a socially distanced classroom?

Scale Drawing

  • What is the scale of your drawing to the actual classroom?
  • How many square feet of space will each student need to have to safely distance from others?
  • What other furniture and equipment will be in your design?
  • What are the dimensions of the classroom?

Process Video

Current Time 0:00
/
Duration Time 0:00
Loaded: 0%
0:00
Progress: 0%
Stream TypeLIVE
Remaining Time -0:00
 
1

Design Process

Design Process (Grades 6 - 12)

Brainstorm Ideas

It's time to think about product development. You will begin with ideation, which is the start of the creative process. During the ideation phase, you will brainstorm with your group about all the potential ways you could approach this product. Remember, the more creative and innovative your ideas are at this stage, the better! Your group will need to check and make sure that each of your initial ideas are meeting the requirements related to the goal, audience and product description. What are the directions or criteria that need to be followed? Who is your audience and what will they need from this product?

Analyze & Decide

As you discuss the possibilities during your brainstorming, you will narrow the ideas down to those that seem like they would best solve the problem or address the challenge. Once you have narrowed down to two or three ideas, grab some paper and a pencil and make an outline or sketch a plan for each one. What will the product need to include? How will you best use the information that you found in your research to create it? What would the product look like based upon each idea?

After outlining your product ideas. Discuss with your group and decide on ONE that you would like to move forward with. When you have selected one idea, you will move on to the creation phase, keeping in mind that you may go through several rounds of creation and revision before you are ready to present.

Create & Revise

It is possible that while you are creating the first version of your product, you will develop more questions that need to be answered before you can continue. If so, you may need to do additional research. Reflect on how any new information affects your product and make revisions as needed.

Your group should also be looking at the rubric during the creation phase. Here, you can practice thinking critically and collaborating with your peers to understand what needs to be included in your product. Then, you should reflect on whether or not your initial work meets those criteria. If you realize that it does not, you may need to go back and make additional revisions.

As you work through the process of creating and revising your product, communication with your teacher and classmates will be very valuable. Asking for help and discussing your product with others can help you clarify whether or not your product meets the goal of the task and is appropriate for the audience.

Remember, creating this product is a fun opportunity to apply what you have learned about important topics in a more creative and independent way.

Online submission requires login. Log In

Brainstorming: Based on your group's analysis of the research, brainstorm potential solutions, designs, and recommendations

Enter your brainstorming ideas below.

Online submission requires login. Log In

Analyze/Decide: Based on your group's brainstorming - decide on the best ways to move forward and create a product that meets the needs of the target audience and addresses the goal of the task.

Write below what you or your team have decided to create.

Online submission requires login. Log In

Classroom Layout

Create a layout showing the design of your proposed classroom. A typical classroom is 900 square feet. To determine the amount of desks that can be included in the classroom with social distancing, you need to be sure that each person (including the teacher) will have 6 feet of personal space in every direction.

How many students will fit in your classroom with social distancing?

Show the layout of all of the desks as well as the teacher desk for your classroom. Be sure to include all of the safety equipment that will be in the classroom and where they will be located. Remember to include all units and labels so the layout is easy to read by the school administrators and board members.

 

Online submission requires login. Log In

Scale Drawing

A typical classroom measures 900 square feet. In order to maintain social distancing, desks must be placed at least 6 feet apart in all 4 directions.
You are to create a scale drawing of your classroom showing the size of the room, student desks, the teacher’s desk and any other furniture that will be included.

This drawing should be to an appropriate scale showing all measurements of furniture, equipment, and space between. Do not forget to include a ratio for your dimensions as compared to actual measurements with appropriate units. This scale drawing will be used to present your classroom design at the school board meeting.

 

Online submission requires login. Log In

Multimedia Presentation

You will be presenting your socially-distanced classroom design at the local school board meeting for their approval. Create an electronic presentation along with notes for yourself to use when presenting to the school board as well as the public at the meeting. Your presentation should include your design, the numbers of students who will be in each classroom and how you determined that social distancing will be achieved through your layout. Be sure to include the math calculations that you used to determine the placement of the desks. You want to make your explanations of the math clear and thorough for your audience.


Since your presentation will be shown as a Zoom meeting throughout the community, it would also be beneficial to end your presentation with other ways that both students and teachers can help keep themselves and others safe from this disease.

 

Online submission requires login. Log In

Public Service Announcement

School leaders around the world are continually making decisions about opening schools to students, educators and staff. Designing a classroom to maximize safety is important, but the humans using the school will need to do their part to keep everyone safe.
As part of your work in re-designing classroom space, you have also been asked to provide a public service announcement (PSA) for the district’s website. This PSA will be an informative and persuasive message regarding student and adult expectations in school. This announcement should outline expectations for students and adults in school and provide visual examples to reinforce what is expected. Making these decisions based upon science is important for schools and communities.

Please use the following articles to make your recommendations for expectations of everyone in school:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2020). CoronaVirus Disease 2019: Frequently Asked Questions: Spread, Prevention.

World Health Organization (2020). How is Covid-19 transmitted?

 

Online submission requires login. Log In

What part of your work are you most proud of? What would you do differently next time? Why?
What skills did you use (21st century skills) to work through the task and finish the project?
How well did the group work together? How did you contribute to the group?
What did you learn were your greatest strengths? Your biggest areas for improvement?
What classroom content did you use to create your products and solve the issue/challenge?
What problems did you encounter while you were working on this task? How did you and your team solve them?

This is the end of the project. Be sure all check-ins and products are completed!

To return, press the button below

Listen