For much of the past hundred years, classrooms have been designed with the teacher seated in front of desks for students. The desks are almost always positioned in lines facing the teacher. But many educators now say children can do better in a less structured learning environment. And designers have been providing spaces and seating to meet those suggestions. Bob Pearlman works as an education consultant in the United States. He helps teachers and school administrators with educational planning and other issues. He told The Associated Press that traditional classrooms are a thing of the past. Now students work in “extended learning areas” that include project-planning rooms, workrooms, and laboratories, as well as learning spaces for groups and individuals. Pearlman points to Albemarle County Public Schools, in Charlottesville, Virginia. The school system invited teams from all its schools to develop learning spaces that would help students deal with complex ideas and work on creative building projects. Now, its elementary school classes have exchanged traditional desks for things like soft seating and connectable tables.
