7 Sustainable Design Ideas for a Classroom

Sustainability has become the new norm of arranging things in human lives, as the planet urgently needs people’s help.

The best way to do it is to teach the growing generation eco-friendly living. Thus, sustainability has entered the educational space, too.

It focuses on the redesign of physical spaces.

You can also add new initiatives and practices to bring sustainability closer to students’ daily routines. This approach cultivates new habits.

Here is a guide on the sustainable design ideas that can transform your classroom.

These improvements can create an atmosphere of happiness, eco-friendliness, and comfort in class. 

Focus on Energy Efficiency 

Whether you’re studying all night or search for a research paper writing service, you should always approach the subject of energy use responsibly.

It’s impossible to be sustainable if you cannot save energy or involve in non-responsible energy waste practices.

Thus, sustainable energy use can become a vital component of a sustainable classroom design.

It ranges from a careful choice of educational gadgets that students bring to the classroom (and charge there) to the use of daylight and non-electronic devices during study sessions.

The use of LED lamps in the class is also a positive step forward in the change toward sustainability. Such lamps last longer and don’t consume as much energy as regular bulbs do. 

Add Some Greens to the Class 

Adding green plants to a class is always a good idea as greens are helpful for human health.

Plants consume carbon dioxide and produce oxygen.

So, they let students enjoy fresh, healthy air during their studies.

An oxygen-saturated room is a healthier alternative for studies.

Stiff, dusty rooms are where the human brain suffers from deoxygenation and cannot function properly. 

Create a Class Garden 

Students can’t learn sustainability and embrace this practice in their daily routines if they’re not given links between theory and practice.

Thus, creating a small class garden can teach them to be eco-friendly and respectful of nature. Students should see how much labor and care is needed to grow a plant.

They will thus understand how rewarding it is to see their plants flourish.

As a result, they are likely to grow more respectful to the flora and fauna surrounding them.

Choose Furniture Correctly 

Another pivotal component of a sustainable classroom is the use of proper furniture.

Unfortunately, the past couple of decades was dominated by cheap plastic furniture in educational settings.

On the one hand, such furniture helped educational administrators close the budget gaps.

They provided their schools with enough furniture within limited budgets.

On the other hand, such furniture proved to be toxic and non-durable. Thus, it undermined the supply goals and caused double expenditures. 

With these observations in mind, one should choose eco-friendly furniture.

It should be manufactured from sustainable components harmless to human health.

These can be processed materials or a combination of wood, steel, and other safe materials. Educators also stress the need for flexibility in the classroom.

So, choosing modular furniture may be a wise solution to furniture waste or duplication.

When equipping a sustainable classroom, administrators should keep in mind that young students can be careless.

Thus, durability and simplicity are a priority. Another element of design is ergonomics. Students need to sit at their desks for long hours during classes.

Making their workspace comfortable and healthy is key for their joints and becks.

Maximize the Use of Sunlight 

To become more sustainable, people should look back and learn from the practices of their predecessors.

One of the valuable lessons we can take from the past is the wise use of sunlight. People in the pre-electricity times maximized the use of sunlight.

They built their constructions in a way that helped them work as long as the daytime allowed. Besides, they didn’t suffer from direct sunray glare and solar heat gain.

Modern schools can also adopt such practices.

They include designing windows correctly and installing fixed sunshades protecting the classrooms from direct sunlight.

Such a design can help let enough daylight in for the students to study comfortably. 

Provide Recycling Opportunities 

Recycling has for a long time been the cornerstone of the human transition to sustainability. The three Rs (reuse, reduce, recycle) lie at the heart of all sustainability initiatives.

So, you can also adopt such practices in your class to make it more sustainable. This can be achieved in several ways: 

  • Educating students about the significance of waste reduction;
  • Conducting regular waste and energy audits in class. So, you will engage students in the evaluation of their wastefulness and ask them to come up with waste reduction initiatives. 
  • To set recycling bins in the class and assign recycling monitors regularly; 
  • To hold recycling contests in the class by dividing students into groups and then evaluating their recycling efforts. 

Overall, it’s critical to develop recycling and reuse initiatives at the school or college level. The administration thus also gets involved.

But there may still be no recycling program in your educational institution.

In this case, a grassroots initiative at the classroom level will be better than no effort at all.

Who knows, maybe your fellow students will like the initiative so much that they will launch a college startup specializing in recycling. 

Use Recycled Paper and Stationery 

Another helpful way to incorporate the sustainability principles into classroom design is to focus on the objects surrounding students every day.

One example is using recycled paper and stationery in class. It focuses the students’ attention on the ease of shifting to such products and their optimal quality for their use.

The students get acquainted with the diversity of recycled products available for their daily use.

As a result, they are sure to grow more aware and conscious about choosing the disposables they’ll buy next time. 

Sustainability Is Simple 

As you can see, making a classroom sustainable is easy. Students, educators, and administrators are all committed to that goal and work on it.

Growing plants together, developing recycling initiatives, and abandoning energy-consuming gadgets can be an exciting journey to eco-friendliness.

So, it’s time to approach it in a fun, engaging way to achieve peer students’ buy-in and commitment for a lifetime.