This study explores the relationship between seating quadrants and student performance, including the role of classroom type in the quadrant effect. Data collected from 131 classes taught at 17 colleges of Northwest A&F University in China were analyzed using the ordinary least squares method. The results revealed that where a student sat in a…

Students' seating selection is a significant physical variable that has implications for both teachers and students. These seating preferences have been linked to students' personalities, motivation, and academic performance. However, there is limited knowledge regarding the cultural influences on these preferences. In this exploratory qualitative…

An "active learning" classroom design recognizes the importance of students becoming engaged in their own learning. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study compared student-reported data (n = 219) and used the "community of inquiry" framework to evaluate the impact of environmental features on students' experience. Students…

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 explores the multilayered meanings of classroom seating order -- a crucial spatial element of school life -- and its influences on children's experiences. Drawing on fieldwork in a secondary school in northwest China, I ethnographically examine how school educators impose a hierarchy of seats in moral terms. My study shows that…

New York City's universal prekindergarten (pre-K) program, which increased full-day enrollment from 19,000 to almost 70,000 children, is ambitious in both scale and implementation speed. We provide new evidence on the distribution of pre-K quality in New York City by student race/ethnicity, and investigate the extent to which observed differences…

The quality of relationships has been identified as a significant factor in Pasifika education. Pasifika education refers to students who have links with Pacific Islands, who are at schools in Aotearoa New Zealand. In the past, attention has been given to the type of person who can successfully create relationships as a teacher of Pasifika…

The proximity effect--whether distance from an instructor correlates with grades--has been the topic of many articles dating back nearly 100 years. Despite this attention, a cleavage in the literature remains. Some authors argue that increased proximity to the instructor negatively relates with academic performance while others maintain no…

The purpose of this study was to examine the influence of students' seating location in a large, lecture-style university course on student engagement, attention, classroom learning experience, and course performance. Participants (N = 407) were students in two cohorts of an undergraduate financial accounting course at a large university in the…

Every day in K-12 classrooms across the country, teachers are struggling to keep their students focused and on task during instructional time. There are hundreds of theories floating around about how to manage a classroom effectively, but nothing is as simple or as effective in engaging students as the physical presence of the teacher (Brophy,…

The purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between undergraduate student course engagement and several independent variables. Total participants included 300 (N) undergraduate students. Students completed three instruments measuring course engagement, teacher verbal immediacy, and teacher nonverbal immediacy. It was concluded that…

This study examines seasonal change in child aggressive behavior over 2 calendar years and explores the role of classroom composition on developmental trajectories. Four waves of data were collected in the fall and spring of 2 academic years from a sample of children attending New York City public elementary schools. Using the school calendar year…

In this paper we report on the use of a purpose built Computer Support Collaborative learning environment designed to support lab-based CAD teaching through the monitoring of student participation and identified predictors of success. This was carried out by analysing data from the interactive learning system and correlating student behaviour with…

Several studies have investigated the association between students' seating positions and their classroom performance. However, the role of personality traits on seating preference in the classroom has not been well investigated. The aim of the study was to understand how students choose their seats according to their personality traits in a…

This study examines personality factors as antecedents of student social capital. We hypothesize relationships between two constructs taken from the five-factor model of personality (agreeableness and extraversion) and two variables that reflect a student's social capital (quantity of ties and strength of ties) in an academic setting. Analysis of…