Good teachers know that the physical environment of the classroom can either enhance or hinder learning. Appropriate room preparation and arrangement of materials reserves class time for learning, while inadequate planning interferes with instruction by causing interruptions and delays. Before the year begins, effective classroom managers…

Many investigators have been interested in the development of techniques for remediating undersirable classroom behavior, but far less attention has been paid to physical, spatial and architectural variables which often set the occasion for inappropriate behavior in the classroom. The present study explored the relationships between these…

In order to develop an ecological theory of teaching, the classroom must be viewed as a sociological unit. The unit of interest was the teacher-student learning group. The basic question explored was: What is the relationship between human interactions and the physical and social contexts of the group? Teams of scholars met in seminars, each…

Case study assessed effects of rearrangement of desks in an open classroom on incidents of disruptive behavior occurring in that classroom. Results revealed that alteration of the physical environment produced positive responses from students through reduction of maladaptive behavior occurrences. (Author/MH)