A well-designed classroom boosts student learning by as much as 16% (Barrett, Zhang, Davies, & Barrett 2015), but overdecorating is a distraction. Busy teachers can use good classroom decoration and design principles to boost learning. Another study found that classroom design could be attributed to a 25% impact positive or negative over the course of a school year. Here’s a quick list of the most valuable classroom decoration and design resources.

Classroom Design Resources

Tip: One of the best ways to get ideas is to look at classrooms. Check out the Pinterest boards below or start off with Supply Addicts 80+ Beautiful Classrooms and get excited about what you can do.

Blog Posts

Interviews with Experts

Tools to Help You Design Your Classroom

Makerspace Design

Library Design

Websites

Books

Classroom Design Research and White Papers

Take time to read the research on classroom design and outdoor playground spaces.

Build Your Classroom Design PLN

Build your Personal Learning Network (PLN) by adding these experts and resources to your social media accounts.

Classroom Design Communities

Classroom Design Hashtags

#designthinking

#ntchat – the new teacher chat sometimes has classroom design ideas

You may also want to take a look at the Maker education hashtags as this often impacts Classroom Design: # MakerEd , # MakerSpace

Classroom Design Pinterest Boards

Tip: Remember that you can always just search for the kind of design you want. But also remember that often people tag things decorations and don’t use the word design. For example, here are some awesome science classroom ideas on Pinterest. I typed in science classroom decorations to get this list.

Classroom Environment Board by What Have I Learned

Classroom Design Board by Erin Klein (she’s one of my favorites)

Classroom Management Board curated by 81 Teachers on Pinterest has lots of ideas.

Classroom Organization and Decoration – My board where I add things to decorate and organize my classroom.

People Who Share About Classroom Design

Erin Klein @kleinerin

David Jakes @djakes

Ewan McIntosh @ewanmcintosh

I have to include Caine’s Arcade and the birth of the Cardboard challenge – this 9-year-old invented a simple idea that changed so many things about what we want to DO in the classroom. Study this as an example of how design can be impacted with a simple idea. He belongs here just because of the impact he’s had on what people are doing with making.

Organizations who Talk about Classroom Design

Videos and Slide Decks

How to Make an Ugly Classroom Beautiful

This time lapse video has over 200,000 views for a reason. Awesome. Once again, we see that classroom decoration is an art. The only question I have about this classroom is if it is too noisy, but I love how the teacher uses inexpensive supplies like construction paper to make a huge difference. I also like the share chair at the front. I am also curious how well the paper held up during the year but he did put clear tape over it on the desks.

Classroom Caboodle’s elementary Classroom Layout

Organizing Student Work featuring Ms. Hepburn’s First Grade Classroom

Sprinkle Teaching Magic

Shelia Jane shares what she’s done in her classroom crib.

Teacher to the Core Gives you a Tour of Her Classroom

Shelly Gray talks about Organizing Classroom Learning Centers

Hope King from Ron Clark Academy gives her Tour

Her classroom is epic! (So is Ron Clark’s School.)

Brought to you by USC Rossier’s online Master of Arts in Teaching degree