Unit 8 - Our Schools Flashcards
Summarize any relationship between school size and satisfaction and participation among students. What factor seems to account for the different effects of school size on students?
Size generally offers more varieties and learning opportunities
Although participation in activities is similar for both small and large schools, children in smaller schools participate in more kinds of extracurricular , and more often participate in central or responsible positions.
Kids from larger schools gained more experience vicariously and smaller school children gained more satisfaction directly.
Children reported more achievements in various activities in small schools.
A key factor underlying most of the school size findings is related to small schools being chronically understaffed. Therefore, students from small schools are almost forced to accept a more active, central, and challenging role because often no one else is available to do job,
Because there is variation of staffing in both schools regardless, the degree of over- or understaffing of a particular activity is the critical variable, rather than the size of the school, although small schools do generally have more understaffed behavior settings than large schools.
Summarize the relationship between the overall plan and physical condition of the school and teacher–student interaction.
A basic distinction can be made from buildings which are centralized (One or two large buildings) vs those which are decentralized (with numerous smaller separate buildings).
Those in decentralized buildings needed more time for transit and had less time for teacher-student interaction. With interaction being 20% less in decentralized schools.
How is the use of classroom walls related to learning?
More distractions were reported from noise and visitors with less permanent walls and more open perimeters.
Carefully designed walls may have a strong impact on learning and should do one of three jobs.
(1) An acquisition wall should include the chalkboard and a bulletin board and be in front of the room. Only material relating to new concepts and concepts that students are struggling with should be place on this wall; anything else interferes with the acquisition or learning function of this wall.
(2) Maintenance walls should be along the sides of the room where they may be seen but are less focal than the acquisition wall. These walls are for material that helps students review and more fully understand material they already know fairly well. They serve to reassure students. Other materials such as students work, notices about school activities, etc. should not be on these walls to interfere with the maintenance function.
(3) The dynamic wall should be at the back of the room. It is so named because it should be changed often - contains students work, school notices, holiday decorations, and other material important for organizational and social reasons.
A small study utilizing this approach seemed to show increased learning in the three-wall system.
Finally, dramatic nature scenes are more restorative for fatigue than even real but plain outdoor scenes.
What is the familiar-context effect? What are the explanations for this effect?
Familiar context effect refers that learning is partly dependent on the background context in which it occurs. If this is true, this means that students recall of material learned in a particular place is better than in a different place. - Research supports this hypothesis.
The greater difference in two areas, the greater decline in performance.
One explanation is that the novel nature of new contexts distracts students.
A second explanation is that learned material is associated with the environmental context through a process like classical conditioning, even though the context had no direct role in the teaching-learning process. - Research supports this second hypothesis as recall of the original location improved performance.
Summarize the relationship between noise and academic performance. What factors influence this relationship?
The relationship between noise and learning depends on :
The properties of the noise itself (loudness, pitch, continuity, meaningfulness, reverberation).
The characteristics of the learner (gender, motivation, personality, intelligence, feelings of control.)
The nature of the task (reading, memorizing, problem solving, listening, motor).
The situation (lab versus field setting, time of day, whether noise is expected or not).
Learning versus performance (whether noise had its effect during the learning of the material or during the performance of material that had been learned).
Those who lived in chronic noise had memory deficits, compared to similar children in quiet areas. - airport noise effects learning.
Summary of Noise and Academic Performance :
Evidence strongly suggests that noise interferes with learning both while it occurs and, if the learner is subjected to noise for long periods, even after it is gone. Noisy classrooms may impair performance of girls more than boys, those with and external locus of control, more intelligent students, that of autistic children more than hyperactive children, and that of most children when the task is difficult.
Noise may hinder performance by interfering with information processing, lowering the students perception of control, and increasing blood pressures.
Meaningful noise may interfere with more tasks then non-meaningful noise.
Summarize the effects of lighting on academic performance, feelings, health, and stress. What are the methodological problems in many of these studies?
In sum Incandescent lighting is preferred by many, but is more expensive than fluorescent lighting. Full-spectrum lighting has a more natural range of light, but is more expensive than typical cool-white lighting , and is not clearly better (or worse) for people; meanwhile, fluorescent lighting has not been shown to have dramatic negative effects on performance or health, although it does seem to affect some basic kinds of cognitive and motor activities. As with noise, the important effects may be on specific subgroups of individuals; when studies of whole classes or schools are done, large effects on a few learners may be obscured by the absence of effects on most learners.
Summarize the influence of classroom density, furniture arrangement, wall decoration, and windows on learning performance.
High density may affect learning when the activity involves physical movement around the classroom, when learning depends on some classroom resource that is less plentiful than the number of learners, when a particular situation seems crowded to a learner, and when the concept to be learned is complex. Among preschoolers, high density alters the child’s choice of activities. Numerous classroom arrangement features have been linked to educational performance. Benefits appear to accrue in classrooms that have the teachers desk in a corner (thereby encouraging the teacher to walk around), have different kinds of activities carefully arranged and separated, possess library corners, and are carpeted.
Windows appear to not affect children’s performance although they may prefer to have windows.
What is the action zone in a classroom? How may sitting in the action zone affect performance?
The action zone refers to the center or middle of the classroom - research reports that students who sit in the action zone get higher grades and participate more. Those in the action zone are more attentive, spend more time in learning-related activities, and are absent less. - this zone appears to produce better grades. -grades are most correlate when students choose this area those who choose the area have generally high self-esteem and may enjoy the subject matter more.
This zone may also facilitate learning through better hearing and attention, easier to involve oneself. Seating may encourage performance and participation but is mediated by other variables such as personality.
Discuss the advantages and disadvantages of the open-plan classroom compared with the traditional arrangement. What key factor determines the effectiveness of the open-plan classroom?
Open-plan classroom’s are where large spaces are shared by more then one class.
Open-plan classrooms often have noise problems and children may get less instruction.
The biggest issue is that teachers often are not adequately trained in their use. - traditional methods are a violation of synormorphy (physical and social aspects of a space should fit together well).
Students may spend more time in transition between activities (even with appropriate methods).
When matched with open plan teaching methods, which include team teaching and less frequent but intimate contact with students some positive changes result.
Students seem to develop more initiative and autonomy.
Students may learn to cope with distraction better - thereby concentrating better and work more persistently.
Open classrooms may not lead to better achievement but may foster curiosity, activity, and responsibility.
Reduces conduct problems of self-directed children.
Summarize the effects of density and spatial arrangements on students’ feelings.
High density may harm learning when the activity involves physical movement around the classroom, when learning depends on some classroom resource that is less plentiful than the number of learners, when a particular situation feels crowded to a particular learner, and when the concept to be learned is complex.
Space in classrooms also affects students and teachers feelings. Most students and teachers prefer lower-density classrooms, because lower densities usually feel less crowded. Providing satisfying physical arrangements within schools is best accompanied by creating a variety of layouts.
Summarize the influence of density and spatial arrangements on social behaviors.
Increased social density leads to increased aggression and withdrawal when other resources, architectural features, and teaching style do not counteract it. Attempts to provide more privacy for most students in the classroom has not been very successful, although some students may benefit.
Open-plan classrooms increase social interaction. Classroom arrangements should provide ‘optimal stimulation’ , although the appropriate amount in any given situation cannot yet be specified. - However, each students need for stimulation, the type of activity, with whom, and the length of time spent engaged in the activity will have to be considered to discover these amounts.
How has environmental psychology improved the environmental design of educational settings?
Adding library corners in kindergartens increases literature use.
Redesigning classrooms to be more comfortable, circular, and pleasant (soft classroom) increased classroom participation dramatically.
First, conceptualize the campus’s physical environments as behaviour settings and better understand the influences of proxemics, physical artifacts, and behavioural traces on campus activities and messages communicated. Second, increase spaces that are designed to give campus users comfort and security, a sense of community, and that meet their need for territory. Third, pay closer attention to the design and location of wayfinding features on campus. Lastly, focus on both the structure of the overall campus design (i.e., place making) and the visual uniqueness of the campus (i.e., place marking).
