Classroom

Fun Facts About Classrooms

• In the early 1900s, many classrooms had dual desks built for two students to sit side-to-side. As you might imagine, this led to frequent classroom disruptions as children fought for precious elbow space.
• Before chalkboards were common, classrooms in colonial America used small wooden paddles with printed text secured by a thin layer of transparent animal horn. Called hornbooks, they typically included the alphabet, syllables, numbers, religious prayers and basic moral lessons.
• The world's oldest surviving classroom still in use today is in Span. It dates back to around 1218 and features original wooden benches and floors with historic student carvings.
• During the 1950s–1970s "open classroom" movement, educators removed classroom walls to create large, flexible learning spaces to promote student-centered learning, self-direction and hands-on activities. But instead of fostering creativity and deeper understanding, it lead to excessive noise, distractions, and lowered overall performance. So the walls went back up.
• Occassionally you'll see circular cutouts in older classroom desks. These are built-in ink wells designed to hold the bottles of ink students used back in the fountain-pen era.
• Your average teacher walks about 4–7 miles per day just pacing around their own classroom during lessons.
• The dunce cap was actually a real form of classroom discipline used in Europe and America from the 19th to the early 20th centuries. They were used to publicly shame disruptive or slow-learning children, but later seen as a harsh and degrading practice.
• Many films shoot classroom scenes on location in real schools, but others construct fake ones on soundstages. Here are a few examples:
  • The Paper Chase (1973) classroom built on a soundstage in Toronto, Canada
  • Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982) real classroom at Van Nuys High School in California
  • Back to School (1986) real classroom at University of Wisconsin in Madison
  • Ferris Bueller's Day Off (1986) real classroom at Maine North High School in Des Plaines, Illinois
  • Dead Poets Society (1989) classroom built on a soundstage in Wilmington, Delaware
  • School of Rock (2003) real classroom at Buckley Country Day School on Long Island, New York

☆ Be sure to check out our special movie puzzles page for word searches on the world of cinema ☆