May 13, 2019
Kristina chats with Jolene Levin, a director at NorvaNivel, an education company founded in Australia in 2010, and Troy Moore, head of Mariners Christian School in Orange County, CA, about the importance of matching classroom design to today’s and tomorrow’s pedagogy, especially in these times of increasing inclusion and meeting the needs of the “whole” student. Levin explains that “form follows function” when it comes to classroom design. Moore notes that NorvaNivel’s furniture, which might be viewed as a bit radical, matched the needs of his teachers to be ready for the next generation of students. Levin notes that the color schemes chosen by the schools should be specific to the vision of the school. For that reason, she says, NorvaNivel customizes, rather than deploying a cookie-cutter approach. In addition, Moore says, students and teachers are ready today to move away from the standard rows of chairs into a more decentralized approach toward classroom design. The bottom line, according to Levin, is that classroom design and space should be regarded as an integral part of the curriculum. For Moore, classroom design must involve input from teachers (and students and parents), and there’s no better time to assert that than today, literally, when it’s Teacher Appreciation Week. This episode was sponsored by Bright Light Volunteers, www.brightlightvolunteers.org; Routledge, www.routledge.com; and Norva Nivel, www.norvanivel.com