THESIS PROPOSAL

Student Name: Raymond Gaffney

Student No. G00246364
1. Working Title

Produce a bespoke design and prototype for a Design and Communication

Graphics student desk.

2. Research Aims

The aims of this thesis are to:

1. Establish and highlight inconsistencies and problems with current DCG desks.
2. Design and produce a new DCG desk for the modern classroom.
3. Test and evaluate the design.

3. Research Objectives
The research objectives for the first aim are to:
1. Visit schools to ascertain what types of DCG desk are in use in schools at the moment.
2. Speak with a number of DCG teachers to obtain their views, both positive and negative,
on the style and design of DCG desks that are in use in their schools. These conversations
will also establish what benefits well designed desks have to classroom management and
classroom climate.
3. Produce a questionnaire for students studying DCG to obtain their views on the current
DCG desks they use. This questionnaire will highlight humanistic educational theories on
how student comfort affects learning.
The research objectives for the second aim are to:
1. Produce a design brief which determines what the specific design features required in a
DCG desk as opposed to a standard school desk are.
2. Brainstorm a number of idea sketches.
3. Consider suitable materials and manufacturing processes that could be used.
4. Produce working drawings of a chosen design.
5. Draw and render a solid works model of the design.
6. Source and cost any materials, fittings or manufacturing processes needed for
production.
7. Produce a full size working, functional prototype.
The research objectives for the third aim are to:
1. Examine the finished desk to see if it satisfies all features required in the design brief.
2. Have finished desk evaluated by a number of DCG teachers and students.
3. Modify design accordingly.

4. Research Methodology

For my thesis I intend on focusing on both primary and secondary research.

My secondary research will consist of researching previous publications, journal

articles and also online sources. I will research such topics as furniture design,
ergonomics and electro/mechanical elevation mechanisms. I will also research
humanistic perspectives of learning from theorists such as Rogers and Maslow to
establish how a students environment and comfort affects their learning experience.
This research will be a key to the designing of my new DCG desk.

My primary research will consist of school visits, surveys, questionnaires and

meetings with current DCG teachers. I intend an building a database of different DCG
desk designs by photographing different schools DCG rooms. I will use these photos
to compare and contrast different desk designs. I will develop a survey for existing
DCG teachers and organise a group meeting of these teachers to obtain their views,
both positive and negative, on the style and design of DCG desks that are in use in
their schools. I will produce a questionnaire for students studying DCG to see what
their opinion is on the current DCG desks they use. I will ask the DTE4 students if it
would be possible for them to circulate these questionnaires in their cooperating TP2
schools.

5. Initial Literature Review

Psychology and Education (Bentham, 2002)

In this book educational psychology is explored and analysed. The areas of educational
psychology in this book which are relevant to this thesis are, humanistic perspectives of
learning and design and layout of educational environments. Bentham writes, humanism
focuses on unobservable private mental world of an individual (Bentham, 2002). This theory
relates to this thesis because it highlights how a learners comfort level affects their learning.
In the chapter design and layout of educational environments Bentham states, this chapter
will look at various aspects of the environment, and their impact on performance and
feelings, and at means of creating better environments for learning (Bentham, 2002). This is
relevant to this thesis because it discusses how a learners environment, e.g. their desk,
affects their learning.

Effective Teaching in Schools (Kyriacou, 2009)

This book will be of help to this thesis because it explains in simple terms the dos and donts
of being an effective teacher. It highlights classroom climate and how it can contribute to
classroom management problems or success.

www.t4.ie
The t4 website will be of great use within this thesis research. This website provides details
on equipment lists and also room layouts. These details will be essential to the design
process of the new DCG desk.

A Comfortable Truth: Well-Planned Classrooms make a Difference (Nair &

Fielding, 2014)
This article from the website www.edutopia.org discusses the topic of comfort in schools, or
the lack of. The first sentence of the article grabbed my attention right off the bat, if we
were to assemble a list of adjectives to describe school, comfortable would not make the
cut. This statement is quite fitting as we can all remember the hard, cold, steel framed
chairs we all sat on as primary school students throughout the country over the years. The
article goes on to discuss such topics as: Comfort Matters (Nair & Fielding, 2014), in this
paragraph the authors discuss the positive effect comfort can have on learning, human
productivity and creativity (Nair & Fielding, 2014) . The latter word of that statement,
creativity, lends itself very well to the subject of Design and Communication Graphics.

www.hermanmiller.com
Herman Miller is a 100-year-old-plus company that places great importance on design, the
environment, community service, and the health and well-being of our customers and our
employees. Innovative ways to improve the performance of our customers organizations
have become our hallmark.
Our award-winning furniture and related services and technologies are available through
dealers and retailers around the world. Whether your world is an office, a school, a home, or
a hospitaland whether you are a customer, an employee, a shareholder, or a member of
our communitywe work hard to create a better world around you.
(www.hermanmiller.com)
This company design and produce office and school furniture and I believe it will be a very
useful turn to resource in the design and production of a prototype DCG desk for this thesis.

Anthropometric evaluation for primary school furniture design. (Chung &

Wong, 2007)
This article is out of the journal Ergonomics. It discusses how poorly designed furniture can
have an effect on musculoskeletal health problems in Hong Kong. The purpose of this study
was to determine whether the design of furniture in schools is appropriate for childrens
anthropometry. (Chung & Wong, 2007) I believe this article, which discusses the ergonomics
of school furniture and how it affects childrens health, will assist in the good design of an
ergonomically correct, new DCG desk for schools.

Neural network and multiple linear regression to predict school children

dimensions for ergonomic school furniture design. (Agha & Alnahhal, 2012)
This is a study of school children size and how a designer can predict the growth of children to help
with the designing of school furniture. Primary school students spend much of their time sitting

on chairs daily. Bad design of furniture may lead to health and learning problems. Therefore,
design of furniture with proper dimensions is critical to encourage appropriate postures
(Straker et al., 2010)(Agha & Alnahhal, 2012). This article will be helpful to the design
process of the bespoke DCG desk.

These are an initial list of reviewed references which I believe will be very relevant to this
thesis.

5. Initial List of References

Bentham, S. (2002). Psychology and Education. New York: Routledge
Rogers, C. R. (1994). Freedom to Learn. New York: Merrill
Kyriacou, C. (2009). Effective teaching in schools: Theory and practice. Cheltenham:
Nelson Thornes
Cohen et al. (2011). Research Methods in Education, British Journal of Educational
Technology, 42:5
Herman Miller. (2014) Herman Miller. Available at: www.hermanmiller.com
[Accessed 29/09/2014]
T4. (2014) t4 Technology subjects support service. Available at: www.t4.ie [Accessed
29/09/14]
Nair, P. & Fielding, R. (2014) A Comfortable Truth: Well-Planned Classrooms Make a
Difference. Available at: http://www.edutopia.org/comfortable-truth [Accessed
29/09/2014]
Techno Teachers. (2014) Techno Teachers Association. Available at:
www.technoteachers.ie [Accessed 29/09/2014]
Department of Education and Skills. (2014) Department of Education and Skills.
Available at: www.education.ie/en/ [Accessed 29/09/2014]
Gordon, A. (1992) Of ergonomics and office furniture: will buying ergonomically
correct desks and chairs turn a company into a workers utopia?, The Office,
1992:12+ Academic Onefile. [Accessed 22/09/2014]

Schantz, J.E. (1993) Ergonomic furniture: a wise company investment. The Office,
1993:52+ Academic Onefile. [Accessed 22/09/2014]
Insenga, M. (2011) Smart School Furniture. Available at:
http://asumag.com/furniture/smart-school-furniture [Accessed 23/09/2014]
Chung, J.W.Y. & Wong, T.K.S. (2007) Anthropometric evaluation for primary school
furniture design, Ergonomics, 50:3, pp. 323-334, [Accessed 23/09/2014]
Agha, S.R. & Alnahhal, M.J. (2012) Neural network and multiple linear regression to
predict school children dimensions for ergonomic school furniture design, Applied
Ergonomics, 43:6, pp. 979-984, [Accessed 23/09/2014]
Oyewole et al. (2010) The ergonomic design of classroom furniture/computer work
station for first graders in the elementary school, International Journal of Industrial
Ergonomics, 40:4, pp. 437-447, [Accessed 23/09/2014]
Straker et al. (2008) The impact of computer display height and desk design on
muscle activity during information technology work by young adults, Journal of
Electromyography and Kinesiology, 18:4, pp. 606-617, [Accessed 23/09/2014]
Kennedy, M. (2004) Selecting the right type and amount of furniture in a classroom
can create a better learning environment. Available at:
http://asumag.com/mag/picking-right-pieces [Accessed 23/09/2014]
Fowler et al. (2004) Selecting Furniture for Schools and Libraries, Media & Methods,
41:2, pp. 10-10 [Accessed 23/09/2014]
Chambers, J.D. (2004) The Furniture Equation, Schools of tomorrow must be able to
accommodate advances in technology. Available at: http://asumag.com/furnitureamp-furnishings/furniture-equation [Accessed 23/09/2014]

Race, P. & McDowell, S. (1996) 500 Computing Tips for Teachers and Lecturers.
London: Kogan Page Limited
Grabe, M. & Grabe, C. (2007) Integrating Technology for Meaningful Learning. New
York: Houghton Mifflin Company
Maslow, A. (2011) Hierarchy of Needs: A Theory of Human Motivation. Kindle
Edition.

Learning Theories. (2014) Maslows Hierarchy of Needs. Available at:

http://www.learning-theories.com/maslows-hierarchy-of-needs.html [Accessed
30/09/2014]