4 Ways Your Classroom Can Be a Collaboration Station
The Collaboration Station Classroom
With the number of students in public schools on the rise, teachers are facing a deficit of time they can offer each student. When the teacher to student ratio puts teachers at a disadvantage, one of the best ways to compensate for classroom management is by encouraging collaboration in the classroom.
When students collaborate in the classroom, they aren't just completing the task at hand- they are learning valuable skills like how to work in groups, balancing opinions, and contributing to an end goal. Encouraging collaboration early on will help students succeed later in life. If your classroom could use a little more collaboration, here are 4 ways our VARIDESK Education desks can encourage group work.
When students are already standing up in the classroom, moving to form groups, pushing desks into circles, and visualizing the whole classroom is a breeze. Without clunky, awkward chairs to move around, students can easily turn to work with their neighbors, or simply walk across the room to form new groups in a shorter time. With the ability to move around, students have an opportunity to work with multiple groups in the classroom, rather than always working with the same students, just because they happen to be sitting in close proximity.
Students who are standing in an area where collaboration is possible are more likely to stay awake during class in general, and this can help promote group activities as well. Avoid the scenario where one student does all the work while their classmates doze off, daydream, or distract others around them. Standing students are awake and attentive, meaning not only are they more likely to contribute to the activity, but they are also more likely to retain the lesson long-term. The use of collaboration stations helps students keep each other accountable, and encourage classmates to do their best work.
When students are standing at a collaboration station, they can make eye contact more easily than when they are sitting at desks facing the front of the room. While standard desks can be moved to make eye contact possible, standing allows students to easily transition from tracking the teacher to discussion with group members.
At the same time, it allows the teacher and students to be at eye level, (or closer to eye level, depending on how tall your students are), rather than forcing them to look up at the teacher. The possibility of collaboration creates a more engaging and connected environment, where students feel they are contributing to their education, rather than simply listening to the teacher talk.
Standing desks make it easier to create a collaboration station for multiple students gathered around one desk, or a couple of desks pushed together, to view a demonstration by the teacher or their classmates. Without chairs, desks become a part of the presentation, rather than a cumbersome piece of furniture to be pushed out of the way. Whether your students are performing table-top science demonstrations, gathering around a tablet or laptop to watch a video, or even playing an educational board game, with collaboration stations, the possibilities are endless.
The classroom does not have to be filled with standing desks to be able to have a standing classroom environment. VARIDESK Education desks open up a whole range of possibilities in the classroom for teachers and their students. If your students are struggling to stay awake, work together, and cooperate in learning, maybe it is time to consider VARIDESK Education.