New Classroom Furniture Helps STEM Students Soar. Literally.

When sixth-grade teacher Gina Baragone applied for a district grant for new classroom furniture, she didn’t expected two things. First, to receive the award and, second, the impact it would have on her STEM classroom students. The furniture has helped them fly.

Before you say “yeah, right,” buckle up and stow your bag of disbelief. We’ll explain.

Cesar E. Chavez Middle School, California

Baragone teaches sixth grade at San Bernardino’s Cesar E. Chavez Middle School. It enrolls 850 students in grades 6–8. Although it’s one of 11 middle schools in the enormous San Bernardino City Unified School District, Chavez is the district’s only middle school with the IB Middle Years Programme.

In addition to ancient history, Baragone teaches design and technology electives, collectively known as IB Design Class. It’s a point of pride for the school, getting this shout-out by Principal Ernestine Hopwood on the school’s website: “One of the most exciting adventures is the change in our IB Design Class, which includes coding, robotics, and exposure to the application of 3D printing.”

But Baragone’s physical classroom space wasn’t always conducive to maximizing the STEM curriculum, nor the IB pedagogy of intellectual challenge through inquiry, action and reflection. Her classroom furniture was working against her IB learners. The same was true for her three team-teachers (four teachers are grouped to teach core classes in history, science, math and language arts.)

The classrooms were a collective graveyard of drab, outdated school furniture that defied 21st century learning essentials. Baragone had two-person, immobile desks arranged in a sort-of “T” shape. Every surface was the same height; every chair was hard and uncomfortable; beige or brown reigned. Her colleague, English and publications teacher Connie Jones, was making due with old, tethered, desk-chair combos lined up like sentries to face a whiteboard.

Landing An Innovation Grant

Baragone’s commitment to Chavez school runs deep. She’s taught there since it opened in 2005 and was born, raised, and attended school in San Bernardino. When the district advertised its annual Innovation Grant request, Baragone, with the support of Jones, went for it.

Students build robots that have to carry 50 pennies around a giant rectangular track made by tucking desks together.

Baragone and her team teachers wanted incoming sixth graders to be more engaged on all levels. And Baragone especially needed a highly flexible space for STEM and makerspace activities. New classroom furniture was a must.

“We do coding, engineering of roller coasters, 3-D printing, building and coding robots, and some art-based work, like stop-motion animation. It’s a lot of group and project work, so we need to be able to move everything at any given moment.” She also takes kids outside, which requires carting supplies.

Baragone had an equally important second goal. “Students learn the best after P.E. and that’s because their blood is flowing more … so their brains can focus better on what is being said to them. We wanted standing desks to get that blood flowing on a more consistent basis.”

To the surprise of Baragone and Jones, Chavez school won a district Innovation Grant to outfit all four sixth-grade classrooms with new furnishings.

Maximizing the Budget

To plot next steps, the school contacted Devyn Goss, director of sales and marketing with Culver-Newlin, a nearby school and office furniture dealer. CN has worked with the San Bernardino City Unified School District for over 30 years. Baragone and her team teachers were grateful for Goss’s knowledge of Smith System school furniture, especially its adjustable school desks. Baragone explained.

“Teachers typically don’t purchase classroom furniture. Two years ago, I went online and typed in ‘sit-to-stand desk.’ There wasn’t much, except one that you had to unscrew to adjust. When we saw the Smith System’s furniture, we were sold.”

Goss added, “Once we knew they had a grant and a very cool plan, we really wanted to help them maximize their budget.” Goss made the numbers work; Smith System would outfit all four classrooms by fall 2018.

Full STEM Ahead: Selecting Furniture

Having a highly flexible, collaborative space with active seating was paramount for Baragone’s design class. She wanted everything on wheels, except the chairs. “Our sixth graders can be really squirrely. Rocking in chairs is o.k. Rolling is not.” Goss had solutions.