In recent years, the changes experienced in the educational and social field have been reflected in the growing interest in defining how the attributes of the learning space affect students. This study seeks to determine the influence exerted by the design and organization of the university classroom on motivation and social interaction. The…

The use of alternative classroom seating has recently become a topic of interest in education. Many teachers have redesigned their classrooms to include many forms of classroom seating aside from traditional student desks. These forms of seating include but are not limited to: therapy balls, therapy cushions, and beanbag chairs. While this…

Education is meant to open your mind, but is that what universities are really doing? Rather than fostering open-minded thinking, the format of lecturing, the lack of interaction among students and instructors, and the passive nature of learning are likely producing the opposite, students with closed-minds. The development and implementation of…

With increasing ethnic and racial diversity in the classroom, understanding classroom dynamics and the use of space has become increasingly important. In particular, when theoretical perspectives, such as that offered by intergroup contact research, promotes the importance of contact between competing groups to improve relations. Adopting a…

As a part of classroom management, teachers face the question of how and where to seat their students. However, it is far from clear what considerations teachers have when making seating arrangements. Therefore, in this study seating arrangement considerations from 50 teachers in grades 4-6 of elementary school were assessed. In Phase 1, teachers…

This research report uses elements of autoethnography and mixed research to share the efforts of an academic to engage his students during classroom instruction. Participants included 28 science students from a regionally accredited university in Southern Africa, who were taking many sections of a research course. The researcher rearranged…

The purpose of this quantitative study was to determine if classroom configuration--departmentalized and self-contained--is related to the academic achievement of Grade 6 students in a large urban school district as measured by California Standards Test (CST) scores in mathematics and English Language Arts (ELA) when controlling for prior academic…

This report gives an overview of the organization, scope, and content of the physical education and games program provided for children and youth in the primary, intermediate, and secondary schools of 48 countries. The report is a synthesis of information received in response to questionnaires sent to key individuals in each country. Information…

The study described here was designed to answer questions about effective instruction in low socioeconomic status (SES) elementary schools by focusing on classroom organization and management, especially what specific steps are important at the beginning of the year. This progress report details the history of the study, describes data collection…

Conducted in 1991, this study surveyed the quality of day care centers in the province of Pavia, Italy, in order to provide a description of the centers and to trace educational patterns in the infant, young toddler, and toddler sections of the centers. The 32 day care centers located in the province employ a staff of 342 and provide 1,700 places…

In spring 1984, a study was conducted in the Saddleback Community College District (SCCD) to assess student flexibility in choosing class schedules and to measure the importance of employment and child care responsibilities in the course selection process. The study population consisted of all students who completed class registration for spring…

A study was undertaken to document, through data gathered from surveys, interviews, and observations, the approaches fourth grade elementary school teachers were using to teach reading comprehension. The study focused on the actual teacher behaviors, methods, and materials rather than on what reading methods, texts or basal series' manuals said…

A 4-weeks summer reading institute with emphasis on reading skills in the content areas was held in 1969. The program was designed for teachers and students from grades 4 to 6, parents, innovation team members, and teacher aides from the Model School Division. Intensive effort was made to provide teachers with special skills in classroom…

This study examined whether 81 sixth grade students from various socioeconomic and racial backgrounds perceived any disadvantages in being taught by a team of teachers rather than by a single teacher in a self-contained classroom. Critics of team teaching assert that a self-contained classroom provides more stability, security, structure, and…

In 1965, queries sent by the Educational Research Service (ERS) to 461 school systems identified only 63 middle schools concentrated in 20 systems. Only 13 of these 20 systems enrolled more than 12,000 pupils. When school systems of similar size were again polled at the opening of the 1968-69 school year, 70 systems reported 235 middle schools.…