This study assessed the environment children experience, rather than their academic achievement or personal adjustment. Measures of child activity were related to type of school, architecture, size of teaching team, a measure of teacher attitude, and other variables. A new instrument was developed for scoring the activities children were engaged in, the groups children worked in, and the amount children moved. An original questionnaire measured teacher and principal "control orientation" in order to determine respondents' beliefs about formal control of children. A sample of 22 collegiate teams in 11 open-space schools and 11 teachers in 7 schools with self-contained classrooms was observed. Results indicated that structure, as well as ideology, has major effects on the child's environment in elementary school; in particular, children in open-space schools were much more active than those in self-contained classrooms. (A 46-item bibliography and appendixes, with related research material, are included.) (Author/MJM)