Abstract
Carrying, lifting, and turning chairs improve learning activities in schools, which leads to higher quality education. However, it has been shown that elementary school chairs in Indonesia are too heavy for children aged 6 to 9 to easily lift and carry. The present study aimed to investigate children’s methods of carrying chairs as well as lifting and turning them onto desks. Forty-two children (aged 6-9), including 17 Indonesians (6 boys, 11 girls) and 25 Japanese (12 boys, 13 girls), participated in the study. The experiment used three elementary school chairs (one Indonesian, two Japanese) and two desk types (standard and tall). The most popular method for carrying a chair was to carry it in front of the body with the chair in a lateral position (75%). In all carrying methods, participants showed a preference for grasping two particular points to hold the chair. Children lifted and turned chairs most successfully when they used this popular grasping pattern. The carrying method and the popular grasping pattern for carrying, lifting, and turning chairs need to be considered when redesigning heavy Indonesian elementary school chairs to improve the ease of transport without decreasing the weight.
Highlights
In learning process, children need to build their own concepts, and need to share or communicate their understanding to others (Vygotsky, 1980)
The furniture which is easy to transport should be provided due to the proper layout arrangement are required for a teaching purpose (Haghighi & Jusan, 2012; Marx et al, 1999; Wannarka & Ruhl, 2008) in an active learning to improve quality of education
The observation found a key point, and an alternative solution should be considered for redesigning and modifying the heavy Indonesian elementary school chairs without decreasing their weight
Summary
Children need to build their own concepts, and need to share or communicate their understanding to others (Vygotsky, 1980). This requires students to be active in class, such as by speaking, observing, performing tasks, and collaborating with friends. As in the active learning principle, students should be active mentally and physically to construct knowledge (Dewey, 1938; Pardjono et al, 1999; Piageat, 1999; Vygotsky, 1980), having children arrange furniture themselves may encourage the learning process. To encourage furniture arrangement by children for active learning purposes, furniture should be easy for them to transport, which would reduce the time required to arrange the classroom layout
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