Cristina Sheehan

FoCoL

As the terms “flexible classroom” and “flexible seating” are becoming common in education a plethora of furniture products have risen to meet the new demand for alternative seating in the classroom. Flexible (flex) seating seeks to accommodate students though variety and provide opportunities to stretch out, curl up, or fidget in seating based on personal preference or classroom activity.

As more and more educators testify to the positive impact flex seating has on student focus, participation, and performance, the present market is not without its flaws. Presently, flex seating is offered as either an addition or a replacement to traditional classroom seating. Classrooms that maintain traditional seating while offering a flex seating space can only accommodate a few students at a time. While teachers that have completely replaced traditional seating with a variety of flex seating create rosters to prevent students from arguing over certain seats.

FoCoL is a two-piece configurable chair that seeks to remedy the divide between flexible and traditional seating in the k-5 classroom. FoCoL can accommodate for student collaboration, individual study, and still function as traditional chair-to-desk classroom seating. A bent plywood construction ensures lightweight stability making it easy to fit the slotted rubber legs of FoCoL’s top seat onto its curved base. Intended as an ideal replacement to standard classroom seating, FoCoL would be able to provide every student in a classroom the opportunity to choose how they sit while keeping the classroom environment manageable for the educator.