Anthropometric evaluations and assessment of school furniture design in Nigeria: A case study of secondary schools in rural area of Odeda, Nigeria

Adekunle Ibrahim Musa

doi:10.5267/j.ijiec.2011.03.006

Abstract

Article history: Received 20 January 2011 Accepted 25 March 2011 Available online 26 March 2011 This study was carried out on 621 schoolboys with age range of 12-17 years in Junior and Senior Secondary Schools in Odeda area of Odeda local government in Ogun State, Nigeria. Different anthropometric data were collected from these boys. It was observed from the results that all anthropometric dimensions of the school children increase with their age. Moreover, there exists a little difference between mean values of different anthropometric dimensions between the boys of 12-13 years (2.9% to 8.8%), 14-15 years (1.3% to 9.9%), and 16-17 years (1.4% to 5.5%). But the said differences become much higher (16.2% to 42.4%) when the same were compared between the children of 12 years and 17 years. Therefore, it can be said that the design of furniture for the children of 12 years will not match the children of 17 years. If single furniture is designed by considering dimensions of the children from 12 years to 17years, it will also not suit the children of all age groups. Therefore, in the present investigation, all the students have been divided into three combined age groups, e.g., 12-13 years, 14-15 years, and 16-17 years, and the percentile values (5, 50 and 95) of anthropometric measures, which will be helpful for designing of the classroom furniture.

Highlights

School is a home away from home for the children, with a purpose to facilitate their learning activities
The results indicate the need for separate design of furniture for different age groups
Various percentile values (5th, 50th and 95th) of different anthropometric dimensions of the school children of different age groups are computed for the purpose of designing school furniture and layout of the classroom which are presented in different tables

Summary

Introduction

School is a home away from home for the children, with a purpose to facilitate their learning activities. The school furniture should be made on the basis of anthropometric dimensions of the user (school children) of different age groups. Efforts are made to acquire body dimension of the boys in rural schools, which are useful for designing furniture and layout of the classroom.

Results

Conclusion