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…

The importance of visual orientation and mobility skill training for visually impaired students is emphasized, and suggestions are made for the vision teacher to involve the classroom teacher in providing a meaningful classroom environment for the mainstreamed student. Among strategies listed are keeping recognizable order to the location of…

This paper presents the results of a two-part study that investigated classroom seating design preferences among elementary classroom teachers. In part one, the researchers mapped and classified seating arrangements that were in actual use across 294 regular classrooms (grades K-5) in 21 public elementary schools. Subsequently, the researchers…

Individually Guided Education (IGE) is an alternative to the traditional age-graded form of elementary schooling. In a typical IGE school, the principal shares her/his authority with leaders of units in decision-making domains and reaches decision by consensus. The leader of a unit in turn shares his/her authority with unit teachers in making…

The desirability of using computer scheduling to allocate students into the activities (lectures, tutorials, practical classes) for courses requested and the possibility of integrating the scheduling into the enrollment process is explored. Although computer scheduling is now widely used in American universities, at Australian universities the…

In order to ascertain students' preferences for the number of times a class should meet each week, 375 questionnaires administered to students during the 1989 summer session at Cuyahoga Community College, Western Campus (Ohio) were evaluated. Results indicated that 49% of respondents preferred classes meeting twice each week, and 29% preferred…

Noting that the design of the classroom used for early childhood and kindergarten classes can contribute in powerful ways to the education of young children, this paper applies principles of architecture to the organization and shaping of the interior classroom space. The paper maintains that five principles, when applied, create a climate of…

Structural characteristics of classroom activities and student and teacher engagement behaviors were investigated. Observer teams collected data on the structure of activities, student engagement behaviors, and teacher behaviors in arithmetic and reading lessons in six elementary classrooms in a middle class, suburban school district. The…

Observation of two third-grade teachers during the opening days of school revealed different approaches to organizing their classes and instructing pupils on correct classroom behavior. The results of observation are given in narrative form and analyzed. Five principles that characterized the most effective teacher are presented: (1) The teacher…

Examined the class formation procedures used in 22 elementary schools from two districts and the influence these procedures had on the composition of 200 classes, 56 of which were combination classes of students from two grade levels. Principals tended to assign higher ability and more independent students to combination classes to ease teacher…

A total of 21 full-day structured classroom observations were conducted in six classes of the Austin Independent School District Bilingual Preschool Project (Texas) having a high incidence of limited-English-proficient (LEP) students. Each class consisted of 15 LEP students and 3 English-proficient students. It was anticipated that…

The use of learning groups in the introductory psychology classroom at the University of Minnesota, General College, is discussed. Learning groups are used to get students to work together on tasks that teach them concepts or skills. It allows an active discovery process to take place as students use their own and other's resources while working…

A meta-analysis of findings from 31 separate studies showed that ability grouping has significant positive effects on the academic performance of elementary school children. The benefits of grouping tended to be small in the typical study of achievement --an increase from the 50th to the 58th percentile for the typical student in a grouped class.…

In light of the importance of a teacher's managerial ability and the use of small and large group instruction to increase direct instruction time, teachers should apply specific managerial skills in their reading classes to ensure student learning. Successful teachers get to know their students, set instructional goals, and make sure students know…

The concept of open or progressive education has come to mean that to learn one needs no discipline, no systematic organization, no planning. However, there is a middle, or at least another ground, between the ends of laissez faire and authoritarianism. It has to do with the structure of process. For example, the Key Vocabulary of Sylvia…