Arousing and sustaining young students' curiosity within school environments is an important concern in contemporary education. Our study investigated the triggers of curiosity in elementary classrooms centered around social constructivist discourse, specifically knowledge-building. To this end, we performed longitudinal network analysis on 4166…

The purpose of this study was to survey secondary band and orchestra teachers (N = 436) in Colorado and Indiana regarding their self-reported immediacy behaviors, ensemble setups, and use of classroom space when teaching. Immediacy "refers to nonverbal teacher behaviors which increase nonverbal interaction with students and which communicate…

This study sought to explore how the design of both physical and virtual learning spaces influence student dialogue in a modern university. Qualitative analysis of the learning spaces in an undergraduate liberal arts program was conducted. Interview and focus group data from students and faculty, in addition to classroom observations, resulted in…

This popular guide offers a wealth of innovative, research-based strategies for making K-12 classrooms the best learning environments they can be. Easy-to-implement best practices are presented for establishing a classroom management plan, organizing procedures and materials, building a respectful community, fostering peer collaboration, and…

This article examines how classroom space is utilized and what this communicates about the teaching conducted there. (RC)

The contention that classroom design influences impression formation has not been empirically tested. The purpose of this article is to bring to the attention of educational psychologists the possibilities for research in this area. The paper summarizes the findings of some initial investigations and suggests directions for future study.…

Discusses the organization of communication in the class in order to facilitate student interaction and the part played by classroom seating arrangements. (Author/RK)

Looks at the impact of the classroom environment on student emotions and behavior, offering suggestions for using the physical features of the environment to calm or stimulate students. Shows how the factors of environmental arousal, classroom robustness, and spatial settings may be used to create art classrooms that minimize chances for…

Ensuring healthy and happy classrooms requires being committed to students and acting in ways worthy of their respect; helping children improve their self-esteem; employing consistency, structure, and routine where appropriate; being clear and honest about expectations; offering students choices; allowing opportunities for all types of questions;…

Investigates student preferences for style of classroom seating arrangements (traditional straightrow, horseshoe, and modular) and concludes that seating preferences are influenced by both course attractiveness and student communication apprehension level. (MH)

The relationship of seating choice to the number of verbal classroom responses, grade point average, and course grade was examined. When college students chose their seats, the highest achievers preferred the front row, center section, and more responses emanated from this area. When seats were assigned, there were no significant differences in…

The effects of the arrangements and use of physical space in the art classroom is discussed. Settings can be purposefully designed to suggest certain meanings as well as exert control over the amount and kind of communication that will occur within them. (Author/RM)

A classroom floor plan, conforming to theoretically equable features (line of sight bearings, expanding/concentrically diminishing wave forms, vectors proportionate, "time") is presented to show that an equable state exists but is entirely theoretical and as a reminder that different options can exist without diminishing the basic human…

A review of research indicates that a relationship may exist between student seating arrangement, student personality characteristics, and student/teacher verbal interaction. To test hypotheses about the functional relationship among these concepts, researchers collected personality data from 285 students in two sections of a college introductory…