Design of classroom furniture for use at tertiary institutions

Abstract

The design of classroom desktop-chairs (one size fits all) in many institutions is usually done with no consideration of ergonomics. Therefore, there is a mismatch between classroom desktop-chairs dimensions and students' anthropometric characteristics. This may cause musculoskeletal disorders and affect learning effectiveness due to sitting for a long time in an awkward position. Ergonomically designed furniture is known to reduce musculoskeletal disorders and improve the attentiveness of students in the classroom environment. This research, therefore, aimed to use the concept of ergonomics to design classroom desktop-chair for students in Uasin-Gishu County. Anthropometric data was collected from a total of three hundred and eighty-two (382) students of both genders. The selected tertiary institutions for the survey were Moi University (MU), University of Eldoret (UoE), Rift Valley Technical Training Institute (RVTTI) and The Eldoret National Polytechnic (TENP). Fourteen (14) anthropometric measurements were ta ken from students with the help of anthropometric tools. The research applied fundamental engineering principles of product design and was carried out in compliance with ISO 7250- 1: (Basic human body measurements for technological design part 1: Body measurement definitions and landmarks). The data obtained was analysed using Minitab 17.0 statistical package, to get the mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, 5 th, 50 th and 95 th percentiles. SolidWorks 2019, was used to design a desktop- chair. The analysed anthropometric data set was used to design, a suitable classroom desktop-chair. One type of ergonomically suitable classroom desktop-chair design was proposed to improve the match between classroom desktop-chairs dimensions and students' anthropometric characteristics. The analysed anthropometric data set can be used for the design of classroom desktop-chairs for students not only in the selected tertiary institutions but all over Kenya.