Collaboration while distancing

Classrooms will need to navigate social distancing guidelines and screens between students might be a solution.

Originally designed to allow teachers to create individual workspaces Screen-ED™ from Australian company Mumble™ By Design is a temporary screen that packs flat and can be wiped down and sprayed with an aerosol disinfectant.

According the World Health Organisation, schools are advised to Implement social distancing practices that may include:

• Staggering the beginning and end of the school day
• Cancelling assemblies, sports games and other events that create crowded conditions
• When possible, create space for children’s desks to be at least one metre apart
• Teach and model creating space and avoiding unnecessary touching

With many schools in Australia lacking the budget to do a complete renovation with new furniture, and at short notice, the Mumble by Design screens provide a safe inexpensive solution and were developed initially to address acoustical issues in large open plan learning spaces.

“In an ideal world the classroom may be big enough to pull desks apart and create distance between students (as they are doing in Denmark) whilst seated at desks and on the floor, however the reality is that unless we start redesigning schools and employing more teachers to create smaller classes we need to find a solution and work with what we have.

“This is even more so for schools who have already transformed their classrooms into 21st Century Learning Environments," Jacqueline Hawksworth, Founder says.