Analysis of FEUP school furniture's suitability

Abstract

Students spend a considerable part of the day sitting down at school, while doing their school work with school furniture that may not match their anthropometric dimensions. This results in some potential anatomical–functional changes and problems. The aim of this study was to assess the level of mismatch between 3school furniture used in the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and students’ anthropometric dimensions. The sample consisted of 206 volunteer students (131 male, 75 female) with ages ranging from 18 to 35 years from different courses. Six anthropometric measures and 5 school furniture dimensions were collected. For the evaluation of classroom furniture a match criterion was defined. Classroom furniture dimensions in each match criterion and student’s anthropometric characteristics were compared. In this analysis, a significant mismatch between the dimensions of school furniture and students’ anthropometric dimensions was found.