Description
Think Nook
DESIGN CONCEPT
Academic success goes hand-in-hand with social and emotional learning. Today’s collaborative classroom should contain a multitude of tools to support all learning modalities. The patented Think Nook was created to help learning environments build students strengths, enhance their learning styles, and support healthy transitions between group work and individualized learning.
Extensive research and testing influenced a design ethos that meets many of the challenges around trauma, neurodiversity, and anxiety; supporting student wellness in any learning environment. It’s more than just a comfortable place to sit. So much more!
The Think Nook is the perfect solution for students who need quiet time to think,
read or simply recharge.
Dr. Gema Godina-Martinez
Principal, Washington Elementary School
“Our Think Nook offers students an opportunity to take a moment within their classroom to reflect, rest or just center themselves so they can be successful learners.”
The upholstered seat, back and ceiling help create a quiet and reflective enclave separate from the more collaborative parts of today’s busy classroom.
Amy Kautzman
Dean and Director,
University Library California State University, Sacramento
“Our makerspace can be a vibrant space filled with the sound of classes and group work. The Think Nook has proven to be a popular tool for internal thinkers, two people brainstorming a project, or someone simply wanting a more contemplative, chill space. We also love seeing the homework, art, or quotes that show up on the whiteboard. Creativity abounds!”
DESIGNED FOR A REASON
A growing number of studies have demonstrated the importance of a student’s emotional health as a critical contributor to their academic success. We feel that furniture can play an essential role in creating healthy, educational environments and helping reduce student stress.
In collaboration with professional behavioral health counselor Anna Iversen, The Think Nook was designed to provide access to a calming solution for both teachers and students without leaving the classroom. When a student becomes stressed or emotionally charged, the critical thinking of the brain (the cortex) becomes overloaded with flight or fight activity from the brainstem, thus losing their ability to think or behave rationally.
The Think Nook offers safe and inclusive design features that foster opportunities for flexibility and self-regulation and reinforce skill development and executive function (meaning working memory, cognitive flexibility, and behavioral inhibition), which are essential for success in an academic setting.
Anna Iversen
MS, LMFT UC Santa Cruz Behavioral Health
ACEs Expert
“The Think Nook has application to minimize external stimulation and allows students to self-regulate, refocus and manage distractions while remaining present and visible in group learning environments, reducing the need to remove students from the classroom which may further exacerbate trauma symptoms.”
DESIGNED FOR WELLNESS
CALMING CORNERS
From tactile elements to acoustic solutions, the correct design choices play a key role in shaping the most impactful wellness spaces and calming corners. Giving students access to calming, protected spaces provide the opportunity to minimize external stimulation, allowing students to self-regulate, refocus, and manage distractions. By harmonizing these multiple design elements, the Think Nook supports the language of Universal Design for Learning and students who identify as neurodiverse.
RESEARCH: SOUND STUDY
Part of creating a calming environment relies on reducing background noise, but not to the point of isolation. During the development of the Think Nook, we performed multiple tests to find that perfect balance of noise reduction and active group participation. Numerous studies demonstrate how noise affects brain performance. It’s important for all students, but especially for those who identify as neurodivergent, to have readily available outlets to help regulate background noise.
“The relationship between noise levels in the classroom and academic performance is well documented. There is increasing evidence that poor acoustics can create a negative learning environment for some students. The Think Nook, with its upholstered interior, creates a space where ambient noise levels are reduced, giving students the opportunity to refocus.”
Anna Iversen, MS, LMFT UC Santa Cruz, Behavioral Health, ACEs Expert
Della Rae
Third Grader
“I love it! I use it all the time when I need a break or feeling stressed. I like how quiet it is inside.”
DESIGNED FOR EVERY CLASSROOM
Mrs. Peacock
Third Grade Teacher
“I love the Think Nook because it can be used in different ways in the classroom. It can be a workspace, a calming space, or it can be a collaborative space as there is room for more than one kid.”
“It’s important to give the students choices. It’s the idea that they are able to identify when they need to take a step away and that they are able to do so. Giving that sense of control makes them feel more comfortable.”
DESIGNED FOR COLLABORATION
Collaboration can help students learn material more deeply while developing social and emotional skills. The Think Nook is designed to enhance these collaboration opportunities with ease, speed, and flexibility. Need an impromptu breakout space? Simply rotate the Think Nook 90 degrees, and students can create a focused space without the need for partition walls or relocating to another space. Additionally, by utilizing the integrated writable surface on the back, the team can easily ideate to facilitate communication and problem-solving skills. The Think Nook provides any learning environment with a game-changing, adaptive solution that will drastically strengthen the quality of any collaboration event. All at a moment’s notice.
Matt Fink
Senior Associate, Architect
LAN Associates
“The Think Nook is a great product that encompasses the needs of modern learning environments. We constantly talk about flexible and versatile spaces. The Think Nook packages those ideas into one design. Students find a myriad of uses in the Think Nook between small group collaboration, demonstration to a large group, storage within arm’s reach, or even a space to escape and focus on individual tasks.”
DESIGNED FOR FLEXIBILITY
Like any good tool in a shop, the more uses it has, the more value it provides. We designed the Think Nook to be exactly that: one of the most versatile tools for any learning environment. Easy mobility and chameleon-like adaptability offer a plethora of opportunities to enhance spaces inside and outside of the classroom. Applications include:
- Media Commons
- Maker Spaces
- Classrooms
- Student Unions
- Extended Learning Areas
- Libraries
- Wellness Spaces
- Vlogging/Podcast Spaces
- Hallways
With one furniture solution, you can meet the needs of introverts who need a quick quiet space to recharge, or it becomes the perfect spot for friends in a student union to have a private conversation. Students who need to ideate in a team meeting or display posters for a science fair can all be accommodated.
The Think Nook also easily adapts to the digital presentation world with its integrated power and green screen fabric, it has become the most popular vlogging booth on campus. With so many uses and applications, you will be amazed to see how much value this one solution provides versus purchasing numerous specialized furniture pieces or creating built-in spaces that lack flexibility.
DESIGNED WITH DETAIL
Storage
Industrial Casters
Magnetic
Recharge
Extension Cord
White Board
Easy Grip Handle
Steel Construction
Upholstered Interior
Thoughtful design research went into the creation of the Think Nook, from mobility to durability. Each element was carefully considered, from its all-steel construction to its upholstered interior. The Think Nook is designed to complement any learning environment.
