Seating assignments and arrangements are utilized in every school classroom. This qualitative study explored the perceptions that teachers have on seating assignments and arrangements to gain a better understanding of how they make design considerations which impact their students. The questions that guide this study are: How do elementary…

This paper focuses on the methodology adopted for Malta+5, which builds on Robin Alexander's work by comparing the five pedagogical cultures he studied to the one in Malta. It reflects critically on the research process adopted in this study, and shows how, despite the very limited experience and resources, applying the methodology, frameworks and…

The design research methodology as it has currently developed centers on the creation of "existence proofs," an important first step. What is needed then are the next steps of expanding the methodology to address the design problems of practical implementation prior to the steps involved in scaling up these designs. This article contributes to…

This study reports the results of an innovative assignment in which preservice teachers' mental representations were examined through drawing floor plans of an "ideal middle-level mathematics classroom." The 41 middle-level mathematics preservice teachers created two floor plans, one at the beginning of the semester and the other for the…

This paper presents the conclusions of a study, carried out in collaboration with schools in six European countries, which focused on tomorrow's physical learning environments. The study, which stemmed from a project entitled Forum for the Future and which was funded by the Finnish National Board of Education (FNBE), was designed to contribute to…

In this study, several examples of the relationship between environmental structure and the functional characteristics of objects interacting in an elementary educational environment are presented. These examples are interpreted within a frame of reference derived from a synthesis of concepts and principles from behavioral science and general…

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…

Studies conducted by Rand Corporation suggested that students did not need to be taught generic skills and work-related attitudes in actual workplaces. Such instruction could occur effectively at schools in traditional stand alone classrooms. To develop an instructional model for teaching generic skills, researchers used ethnographic methods to…

The Reggio Emilia preschools in Italy have much to offer U.S. early education practitioners. If adapted, based on an understanding of American culture and of how American children learn, four components of the Reggio Emilia model can be useful in American early childhood settings. First, projects based on the interests of children can be used to…

The classroom environment elicits social comparison behavior in which a student uses peers' performance as a gauge for his own self-assessment. Social comparison as it relates to ability is a four phase sequential process. In phase one, stimulation of social comparison is elicited through developmentally-determined cognitive capacities and motives…

"Written with the teacher's imagination in mind," this seven-chapter career education booklet's aim is to help teachers reorganize classroom activities. The booklet stresses: "One small step by teachers who thoughtfully plan...what they teach is worth more to a school system than a highly polished superstructure that is difficult to…

The Philadelphia Prekindergarten Head Start program is a child development program for three and four-year-old children from low income families which stresses an interacting and multi-disciplinary attempt to improve the child's physical and emotional health, his family relationships, and his abilities to function better as a person. The program…