Development of a Furniture System to Match Student Needs in New Zealand Schools
Development of a Furniture System to Match Student Needs in New Zealand Schools
New Zealands Studies have identified up to 96% mismatch between the dimensions of school furniture and student body size. Poor posture in students using school furniture is considered to contribute to the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. This paper describes the development of dynamic furniture designed to be appropriate for the sizes of students in year 1-13 (ages 5-17 years) and conducive with both their classroom activities and their physiological requirement to move. It describes the development of a hight band system of sizing according to student statures, which is a major advance over the traditional practice of sizing by year level.
Read the full paper here
The multi-height trial was conducted using furniture similar in design to that existing in the classrooms but in sizes to match the height-band profiles of the student participants, who had been measured by Furnware in advance.
