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Advanced Educational Psychology (Assignment- I)
Q.1: Define and discuss the concept of Educational Psychology.
Support your answer by giving three definitions of Educational
Psychology.
Ans: Educational Psychology
What is Psychology?
The word, ‘Psychology’isderivedfrom two Greek words, ‘Psyche’and ‘Logos’. Psyche means ‘soul’
and ‘Logos’ means ‘science’. Thus psychology wasfirst defined as the ‘science of soul”.
Accordingto earlier psychologists, the functionof psychology wasto study the nature, origin and
destiny of the human soul. But soul is something metaphysical. It cannot be seen, observedand
touchedand we cannot make scientific experimentson soul.
In the 18th century, psychologywasunderstoodas the ‘Science of Mind’.
William James (1892) definedpsychology asthe science of mental processes. But the words ‘mind ‘is
also quite ambiguous as there was confusionregarding the nature and functions of mind.
Modern psychologistsdefinedpsychology asthe “Science of Consciousness”.
James Sully (1884) defined psychologyasthe “Science of the Inner World”.
Wilhelm Wundt (1892) defined psychology asthe science which studies the “internal experiences’.
But there are three levelsof consciousness – conscious, subconsciousand the unconscious and so
this definition also was not acceptedby some.
Thuspsychology first lost its soul, then its mind and then its consciousness. At present only its
behavior exists. William McDougall (1905)defined psychology asthe “Science of Behavior”, W.B.
Pillsbury (1911)andJ.B. Watson(1912)also defined psychology asthe science of behavior.
Behavior generally means overt activitieswhichcan observedand measured scientifically. But one’s
behavior is always influencedby his experiences. So when we study one’s behavior we must also
study his experiences.
Psychology should, therefore, be defined as a “science of behavior and experiencesonhuman beings”
(B.F. Skinner)
Accordingto Crow and Crow, “Psychology isthe study of human behaviour and human
relationship’”.
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What is Educational Psychology?
Educational psychology isthat branchof applied psychology inwhich the findings of psychology are
applied in the field of education. It is the scientific study of human behaviour in educational setting.
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Q.2: Discuss the role of teacher in physical, cognitive, and social
development of children at secondary school level.
Ans: The role of teacher in physical, cognitive, and social development of children at
secondary school level
Secondary School Level (Grades 9th to 10th): During the last few years of Secondary school,
students are generally demonstrating full, adult, abstract reasoning. Most students have reached
full physical maturity as well (although some males may continue to grow taller). Students
continue to focus on the importance of peer relationships, with male and female cliques
interacting with each other, and students show an increasing interest in individual, intimate
relationships. Adolescent peer groups during these years tend to be highly correlated with socio-
economic status and plans for the future. Sadly, adolescence can be an emotional and
psychological roller coaster for some and psychiatric disorders, while rare, become more
prominent (i.e., eating disorders, schizophrenia, depression).
The role of the teacher in cognitive development –scaffolding
Helping learners get to the top of a problem
By far Bruner’s most influential work for teachers was on the concept of ‘scaffolding’ – the
teacher actively helping and encouraging the learner to get to the top of problem. There
are various ways that the teacher might do this throughout a teaching and learning activity.
Underpinning the learner’s knowledge by linking to real life experiences
Presenting the learner with problems – What would happen if?
Confirming the learner’s existing knowledge (assimilation)
Challenging existing knowledge (accommodation)
Using open questions to encourage thought processes
Using pictorial/ diagrammatical images
Developing physical skills (or movements)
Creating readiness to learn
Feedback
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Giving different options for representing understanding symbolically (These scaffolding
strategies are not in any particular order and some could be used alongside each other)
Your task:
Consider an element from a course or module you teach.
Consider a task which would encourage discovery learning with your students.
Use the handout to consider the role of the teacher within the discovery learning.
Which elements of scaffolding are useful to you and which are not?
Cognitive Development:
The teacher should. . .
Provide extensive opportunities for abstract thinking, including consideration of moral
dilemmas.
Recognize that not all junior high students have fully developed abstract reasoning skills.
Recognize students may be inclined to challenge authority with their newfound
skepticism of the world.
Be aware and capitalize on students’ fascination with the “gray areas” of life (for
example—that American history is littered with morally questionable episodes).
Without giving up more concrete instructional tools such as charts, illustrations, graphs,
and diagrams, move students toward higher-order thinking whenever possible by
encouraging them to explain how they solve problems
Create projects that enable students to experience the tasks and dilemmas of
professionals in the disciplines your subject area represents
Physical Development:
The teacher should. . .
Minimize activities that draw attention to different levels of maturity.
Promote appropriate eating habits and model and encourage fitness.
Be sensitive to female menstruation (male teachers may want to partner with a female
teacher, who might keep emergency feminine products in supply) and the potential for
pregnancy.
Send messages about healthy body images
Learn to recognize and how to seek help for common adolescent health concerns
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Socio-emotional Development:
The teacher should. . .
Listen to and help students clarify their thinking as they go through the potential turmoil
of identity formation.
Create classroom systems to provide the security of structure while providing the
freedom for personal expression.
Create classroom activities that do not necessarily require students to “stick out”.
Be particularly careful not to humiliate students or draw unwanted attention to them.
Be acutely aware of social pressures and anxieties among students.
Actively encourage non-violent conflict resolution
Attempt to ease anxiety about the future by offering assistance about career choices and
options for higher education.
Recognize that students may be reluctant to risk their self-esteem and egos when asked
to try a new skill in front of peers.
Develop, support and enforce policies against gender-related harassment.
Conclusion
Instead, they carefully consider which choices will most help to reach our objectives with their
particular students. Cognitive development’s insights give us one more set of factors to consider
as we are planning instruction and developing classroom management systems. Having read this
answer, you should have a basic background in the general themes of cognitive development.
At different ages, children think in different ways.
Children actively construct meaning.
Cognitive development builds on prior knowledge.
Challenging student thought promotes cognitive development.
Healthy social interactions enable cognitive growth.
The above research suggests that teachers can, and should, address children’s attention problems
as they start elementary school. In addition, efforts to enhance children’s emotion regulation and
knowledge should begin before elementary school to help promote school adjustment and
academic achievement. These early interventions may be especially important for at-risk
children. Ramey offered seven principles derived from an extensive review of the literature that
suggests how these capacities can be fostered.
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Each principle is based on evidence from multiple studies and affects the course of development
through biological changes associated with behavior:
Encourage exploration with all the senses, in familiar and new places, with others and
alone, safely and with joy.
Mentor in basic skills, showing what’s and when, the ins and outs, of how things and
people work.
Celebrate developmental advances for learning new skills, little and big, and for
becoming a unique individual.
Rehearse and extend new skills, showing the child how to practice again and again, in the
same and different ways, with new people and new things.
Protect the child from inappropriate disapproval, teasing, neglect, or punishment.
Communicate richly and responsively with sounds, songs, gestures, and words.
Guide and limit behavior to keep the child safe, to teach what is acceptable and what is
not, and teach the rules of being a cooperative, responsive, and caring person.
Q.3:Define conceptof learning and explain behaviouristic theories of any two
psychologists which you have studied in your course.
Ans: Concept of Learning:
Introduction
Learning has been defined by the educational psychologists in different ways and meanings. It
has been explained as a quantitative increase in knowledge, memorizing of facts, skills, and
methods that can be retained and used as necessary. It is also viewed as making sense or
abstracting meaning, relating parts of the subject matter to each other and to the real world,
interpreting and understanding reality and comprehending the world by reinterpreting
knowledge. It is very difficult to decide what actually happens when an organism learns. It is
also defined as adjustment, or adaptation to a situation or improvement. The questions about the
nature of adjustments, adaptations or improvement for what and from whose point of view are
unanswered. Learning in the context of problem solving does not answer the physical dimensions
of a problem and of its solution? Is learning mean coming out of a puzzle box and strengthening
of the bond? But the release from the box faster and faster is not learning rather it is merely a
performance. These different interpretations of the concept of learning compelled the researcher
to conduct a study on the topic to enlist the view points of behaviourists, humanists and
construvists in sequenced form to identify the differences and similarities.
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The psychology of learning is a theoretical science. Learning is a process that depends on
experience and leads to long-term changes in behavior potential. Behavior potential designates
the possible behavior of an individual, not actual behavior. The main assumption behind all
learning psychology is that the effects of the environment, conditioning, reinforcement, etc.
provide psychologists with the best information from which to understand human behavior. As
opposed to short term changes in behavior potential (caused e.g. by fatigue) learning
implies long term changes. As opposed to long term changes caused by aging and development,
learning implies changes related directly to experience.
Learning is the act of acquiring new, or modifying and reinforcing
existing, knowledge, behaviors, skills, values, or preferences and may involve synthesizing
different types of information. The ability to learn is possessed by humans, animals, plants and
some machines.
Progress over time tends to follow a learning curve. It does not happen all at once, but builds
upon and is shaped by previous knowledge. To that end, learning may be viewed as a process,
rather than a collection of factual and procedural knowledge. Learning produces changes in the
organism and the changes produced are relatively permanent.
Human learning may occur as part of education, personal development, schooling, or training. It
may be goal-oriented and may be aided by motivation. The study of how learning occurs is part
of educational psychology, neuropsychology, learning theory, and pedagogy. Learning may
occur as a result of habituation or classical conditioning, seen in many animal species, or as a
result of more complex activities such as play, seen only in relatively intelligent animals.
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Behaviourists Theories of Learning:
CLASSICAL AND OPERANT
CONDITIONING
A behaviorist theory based on the fundamental idea that behaviors that
are reinforced will tend to continue, while behaviors that are punished
will eventually end
CONTRIBUTORS
Burrhus Frederic (B.F.) Skinner (1904 – 1990)
Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936)
KEY CONCEPTS
What is the difference between operant conditioning and classical conditioning?
In operant conditioning, a voluntary response is then followed by a reinforcing stimulus. In this
way, the voluntary response (e.g. studying for an exam) is more likely to be done by the
individual.
In contrast, classical conditioning is when a stimulus automatically triggers an involuntary
response.
OPERANT CONDITIONING
Operant conditioning can be described as a process that attempts to modify behavior through the
use of positive and negative reinforcement. Through operant conditioning, an individual makes
an association between a particular behavior and a consequence.
Example 1: Parents rewarding a child’s excellent grades with candy or some other prize.
Example 2: A school teacher awards points to those students who are the most calm and well-
behaved. Students eventually realize that when they voluntarily become quieter and better
behaved, that they earn more points.
Example 3: A form of reinforcement (such as food) is given to an animal every time the animal
(for example, a hungry lion) presses a lever.
The term “operant conditioning” originated by the behaviorist B. F. Skinner, who believed that
one should focus on the external, observable causes of behavior (rather than try to unpack the
internal thoughts and motivations)
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Reinforcement comes in two forms: positive and negative. We will explain this below.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE REINFORCERS
Positive reinforces are favorable events or outcomes that are given to the individual after the
desired behavior. This may come in the form of praise, rewards, etc.
Negative reinforces typically are characterized by the removal of an undesired or unpleasant
outcome after the desired behavior. A response is strengthened as something considered negative
is removed.
The goal in both of these cases of reinforcement is for the behavior to increase.
POSITIVE AND NEGATIVE PUNISHMENT
Punishment, in contrast, is when the increase of something undesirable attempts to cause
a decrease in the behavior that follows.
Positive punishment is when unfavorable events or outcomes are given in order to
weaken the response that follows.
Negative punishment is characterized by when an favorable event or outcome is removed
after a undesired behavior occurs.
The goal in both of these cases of punishment is for a behavior to decrease.
CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
(PAVLOV)
CONTRIBUTORS
Ivan Pavlov (1849 – 1936)
John B. Watson (1878 – 1958)
KEY CONCEPTS
Several types of learning exist. The most basic form is associative learning, i.e., making a new
association between events in the environment. There are two forms of associative learning:
classical conditioning (made famous by Ivan Pavlov’s experiments with dogs) and operant
conditioning.
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PAVLOV’S DOGS
In the early twentieth century, Russian physiologist Ivan Pavlov did Nobel prize-winning work
on digestion. While studying the role of saliva in dogs’ digestive processes, he stumbled upon a
phenomenon he labeled “psychic reflexes.” While an accidental discovery, he had the foresight
to see the importance of it. Pavlov’s dogs, restrained in an experimental chamber, were presented
with meat powder and they had their saliva collected via a surgically implanted tube in their
saliva glands. Over time, he noticed that his dogs who begin salivation before the meat powder
was even presented, whether it was by the presence of the handler or merely by a clicking noise
produced by the device that distributed the meat powder.
Fascinated by this finding, Pavlov paired the meat powder with various stimuli such as the
ringing of a bell. After the meat powder and bell (auditory stimulus) were presented together
several times, the bell was used alone. Pavlov’s dogs, as predicted, responded by salivating to the
sound of the bell (without the food). The bell began as a neutral stimulus (i.e. the bell itself did
not produce the dogs’ salivation). However, by pairing the bell with the stimulus that did
produce the salivation response, the bell was able to acquire the ability to trigger the salivation
response. Pavlov therefore demonstrated how stimulus-response bonds (which some consider as
the basic building blocks of learning) are formed. He dedicated much of the rest of his career
further exploring this finding.
In technical terms, the meat powder is considered an unconditioned stimulus (UCS) and the
dog’s salivation is the unconditioned response (UCR). The bell is a neutral stimulus until the dog
learns to associate the bell with food. Then the bell becomes a conditioned stimulus (CS) which
produces the conditioned response (CR) of salivation after repeated pairings between the bell and
food.
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JOHN B. WATSON: EARLY CLASSICAL CONDITIONING
WITH HUMANS
John B. Watson further extended Pavlov’s work and applied it to human beings. In 1921, Watson
studied Albert, an 11 month old infant child. The goal of the study was to condition Albert to
become afraid of a white rat by pairing the white rat with a very loud, jarring noise (UCS). At
first, Albert showed no sign of fear when he was presented with rats, but once the rat was
repeatedly paired with the loud noise (UCS), Albert developed a fear of rats. It could be said that
the loud noise (UCS) induced fear (UCR). The implications of Watson’s experiment suggested
that classical conditioning could cause some phobias in humans.
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Q.4: what is motivation? Describe its behavioral and humanistic view.
Ans: Motivation:
The term motivation is derived from the Latin verb mover (to move).
The idea of movement is reflected in such commonsense ideas about motivation as something
that gets us going, keeps us working, and helps us complete tasks. Yet there are many definitions
of motivation and much disagreement over its precise nature. These differences in the nature and
operation of motivation are apparent in the various theories we cover in this text. For now, we
will say that motivation has been conceptualized in varied ways including inner forces, enduring
traits, behavioral responses to stimuli, and sets of beliefs and affects.
OR Internal and external factors that stimulates desire and energy in people to be continually
interested and committed to a job, role or subject, or to make an effort to attain a goal.
Motivation results from the interaction of both conscious and unconscious factors such as the (1)
intensity of desire or need, (2) incentive or reward value of the goal, and (3) expectations of the
individual and of his or her peers. These factors are the reasons one has for behaving a certain
way. An example is a student that spends extra time studying for a test because he or she wants a
better grade in the class.
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OR
Definition of Motivation: Motivation is typically defined as the forces that account for the
arousal, selection, direction, and continuation of behavior. Nevertheless, many teachers have at
least two major misconceptions about motivation that prevent them from using this concept with
maximum effectiveness. One misconception is that some students are unmotivated. Strictly
speaking, that is not an accurate statement. As long as a student chooses goals and expends a
certain amount of effort to achieve them, he is, by definition, motivated. What teachers really
mean is that students are not motivated to behave in the way teachers would like them to behave.
The second misconception is that one person can directly motivate another. This view is
inaccurate because motivation comes from within a person. What you can do, with the help of
the various motivation theories discussed in this chapter, is create the circumstances that
influence students to do what you want them to do.
Behavioral Motivation: Motivation is a theoretical construct used to explain behavior. It
represents the reasons for people's actions, desires, and needs. Motivation can also be defined as
one's direction to behavior or what causes a person to want to repeat a behavior and vice versa.
Behavioral Views of Motivation
Operant Conditioning
The Effect of Reinforcement: In question#3 we discussed Skinner's emphasis of the role of
reinforcement in learning. After demonstrating that organisms tend to repeat actions that are
reinforced and that behavior can be shaped by reinforcement, Skinner developed the technique of
programmed instruction to make it possible for students to be reinforced for every correct
response.
According to Skinner, supplying the correct answer--and being informed by the program that it is
the correct answer--motivates the student to go on to the next frame; and as the student works
through the program, the desired terminal behavior is progressively shaped.
Following Skinner's lead, many behavioral learning theorists devised techniques of behavior
modification on the assumption that students are motivated to complete a task by being promised
a reward of some kind. Many times the reward takes the form of praise or a grade. Sometimes it
is a token that can be traded in for some desired object; and at other times the reward may be the
privilege of engaging in a self-selected activity.
Operant conditioning interpretations of learning may help reveal why some students react
favorably to particular subjects and dislike others. For instance, some students may enter a
required math class with a feeling of delight, while others may feel that they have been sentenced
to prison. Skinner suggests that such differences can be traced to past experiences. He would
argue that the student who loves math has been shaped to respond that way by a series of positive
experiences with math. The math hater, in contrast, may have suffered a series of negative
experiences.
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The Humanistic View of Motivation:
Abraham Maslow earned his Ph.D. in a psychology department that supported the behaviorist
position. After he graduated, however, he came into contact with Gestalt psychologists (a group
of German psychologists whose work during the 1920s and 1930s laid the foundation for the
cognitive theories of the 1960s and 1970s), prepared for a career as a psychoanalyst, and became
interested in anthropology. As a result of these various influences, he came to the conclusion that
American psychologists who endorsed the behaviorist position had become so preoccupied with
overt behavior and objectivity that they were ignoring other important aspects of human
existence (hence the term humanistic to describe his views). When Maslow observed the
behavior of especially well-adjusted persons--or self-actualizers, as he called them--he concluded
that healthy individuals are motivated to seek fulfilling experiences.
Maslow's Theory of Growth Motivation
Maslow describes seventeen propositions, discussed in Chapter 1 of Motivation and
Personality (3d ed., 1987), that he believes would have to be incorporated into any sound theory
of growth motivation (or need gratification) to meet them. Referring to need gratification as the
most important single principle underlying all development, he adds that "the single, holistic
principle that binds together the multiplicity of human motives is the tendency for a new and
higher need to emerge as the lower need fulfills itself by being sufficiently gratified" (1968, p.
55). He elaborates on this basic principle by proposing a five-level hierarchy of needs.
Physiological needs are at the bottom of the hierarchy, followed in ascending order by safety,
belongingness and love, esteem, and self-actualization needs. This order reflects differences in
the relative strength of each need. The lower a need is in the hierarchy, the greater is its strength
because when a lower-level need is activated (as in the case of extreme hunger or fear for one's
physical safety), people will stop trying to satisfy a higher-level need (such as esteem or self-
actualization) and focus on satisfying the currently active lower-level need (Maslow, 1987).
The first four needs (physiological, safety, belongingness and love, and esteem) are often
referred to as deficiency needs because they motivate people to act only when they are unmet to
some degree. Self-actualization, by contrast, is often called a growth need because people
constantly strive to satisfy it. Basically, self-actualization refers to the need for self-fulfillment -
- the need to develop all of one's potential talents and capabilities. For example, an individual
who felt she had the capability to write novels, teach, practice medicine, and raise children would
not feel self-actualized until all of these goals had been accomplished to some minimal degree.
Because it is at the top of the hierarchy and addresses the potential of the whole person, self-
actualization is discussed more frequently than the other needs.
Maslow originally felt that self-actualization needs would automatically be activated as soon as
esteem needs were met, but he changed his mind when he encountered individuals whose
behavior did not fit this pattern. He concluded that individuals whose self-actualization needs
became activated held in high regard such values as truth, goodness, beauty, justice, autonomy,
and humor (Feist, 1990).
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In addition to the five basic needs that compose the hierarchy, Maslow describes cognitive needs
(such as the needs to know and to understand) and aesthetic needs (such as the needs for order,
symmetry, or harmony). While not part of the basic hierarchy, these two classes of needs play a
critical role in the satisfaction of basic needs. Maslow maintains that such conditions as the
freedom to investigate and learn, fairness, honesty, and orderliness in interpersonal relationships
are critical because their absence makes satisfaction of the five basic needs impossible. (Imagine,
for example, trying to satisfy your belongingness and love needs or your esteem needs in an
atmosphere characterized by dishonesty, unfair punishment, and restrictions on freedom of
speech.)
Suggestions for Teaching in Your Classroom: Motivating Students to Learn
1. Use behavioral techniques to help students exert themselves and work toward remote goals.
2. Make sure that students know what they are to do, how to proceed, and how to determine
when they have achieved goals.
3. Do everything possible to satisfy deficiency needs -- physiological, safety, belongingness, and
esteem.
Accommodate the instructional program to the physiological needs of your students.
Make your room physically and psychologically safe.
Show your students that you take an interest in them and that they belong in your
classroom.
Arrange learning experiences so that all students can gain at least a degree of esteem.
4. Enhance the attractions and minimize the dangers of growth choices.
5. Direct learning experiences toward feelings of success in an effort to encourage an orientation
toward achievement, a positive self-concept, and a strong sense of self-efficacy.
Make use of objectives that are challenging but attainable and, when appropriate, that
involve student input.
Provide knowledge of results by emphasizing the positive.
6. Try to encourage the development of need achievement, self-confidence, and self-direction in
students who need these qualities.
Use achievement-motivation training techniques.
Use cooperative-learning methods.
7. Try to make learning interesting by emphasizing activity, investigation, adventure, social
interaction, and usefulness.
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Q.5: Discuss the impact of teacher’s attitude and classroom atmosphere in motivating
children.
Ans: Teacher’s attitude and classroom atmosphere in motivating children.
The study addressed the issue of teacher motivation as an essential factor for classroom
effectiveness and school improvement. Teacher motivation has to do with teachers' desire to
participate in the education process.
772 (10%) public primary and secondary school teachers selected through strategic random
sampling technique from the south eastern part of the country participated in the study.
Data was collected using a survey instrument designed by the researcher. Analysis of data
revealed that the participating teachers almost unanimously agreed that teacher motivation is a
vital factor for classroom effectiveness and school improvement.
It was therefore recommended that in this era of materialism and display of wealth in the face of
widespread poverty teachers need to be adequately motivated (salaries must be paid as at when
due and teaching facilities made available) for an effective viable school system.
Motivation is not completely a new term. What is interesting about it is that it is commonly
assumed to be a good thing that goes in influencing individual's behavior and performance at
work.
Teacher motivation naturally has to do with teachers' attitude to work. It has to do with
teachers desire to participate in the pedagogical processes within the school environment. It has
to do with teachers' interest in student discipline and control particularly in the classroom.
Therefore it could underlie their involvement or non-involvement in academic and non-academic
activities, which operate in schools.
The teacher is the one that translates educational philosophy and objective into knowledge
and skill and transfers them to students in the classroom. Classroom climate is important in
teacher motivation. If a teacher experiences the classroom as a safe, healthy, happy place with
supportive resources and facilities for teaching for optimal learning, he/she tends to participate
more than expected in the process of management, administration, and the overall improvement
of the school.
The teacher commands and emits the image of one who improves knowledge and the physical
conditions of the classroom through orderliness, discipline and control. He makes diagnosis of
student's feelings and attitudes inferred by their behaviour and response in the classroom
environment. Hence Lash and Kirkpatrick (1990) concluded that in the absence of school
programmes the major responsibility of working with children in the school rests with the
teacher.
Likewise, Maehr and Midgley (1991) affirm that what takes place in the classroom, even though
the classroom itself is not an island, is critical. Therefore, depending on the degree of congruence
with classroom practices and school environment, teachers teaching activities may dilute or
enhance students' performance.
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Effectiveness is the "what of change" while improvement is the "how of change" (Stoll and Fink
1996). Teacher motivation, therefore, is anything done to make teachers happy, satisfied,
dedicated and committed in such a way that they bring out their best in their places of work so
that both students, parents and the society will greatly benefit from their services.
Teachers have both intrinsic and extrinsic needs. A teacher who is intrinsically motivated
may be observed to undertake a task for its own sake, for the satisfaction it provides or for the
feeling of accomplishment and self-actualization. On the other hand, an extrinsically motivated
teacher may perform the activity/duty in order to obtain some reward such as salary. Extrinsic
motivation plays an important part in people's life. It is pre-eminent in influencing a person's
behaviour. Therefore, the aim of the organization should be to build on and enhance the intrinsic
motivation for teachers to teach effectively and at the same time, to supply some extrinsic
motivation along the way for school improvement (O'neil, 1995).
A large amount of a child’s time is spent sitting in a school classroom. This place is where they
will learn the various skills deemed necessary and proper for them to achieve success in the
global society. The classroom is where they will gain an understanding of their place in the
world and the gifts that they have to offer it. It is where the student develops what they want their
future to look like, as well as knowledge of the skills needed to reach that goal. With the
classroom being such an important place in the growth of a child it is important to understand the
ways in which to affect this environment in order to receive maximum effectiveness in
instruction.
If schools really do play a large role in teaching the next generation how to be successful
members of society then every precaution should be taken to make sure that the learning
environment is one that helps students thrive. If not approached correctly, a classroom can be set
up in a way that stifles creativity or does not promote a positive learning environment. There are
many things that can affect this environment.
There are physical elements such as wall art, arrangement of desks, or resources. Also, there are
intangible elements such as the energy of the classroom, the rules, or the sounds within the room.
Each of these can impact a student’s focus and achievement in the class. They can also affect a
teacher’s attitude in the class. Included in each of these elements of the classroom is the
emotional environment. The way in which a teacher organizes their class, or how they control it,
will yield positive or negative consequences for their students. If a teacher is unmotivated or
negative there will be a direct impact on the students within the classroom.
Similarly, if a teacher is motivated and positive they will likely have a beneficial impact on their
students as well. It is important for a teacher to understand this cause and effect in order to
understand how to organize their classroom to create a better learning environment. The standard
for many classrooms today is to have desks aligned in rows within the classroom. This system of
arrangement seems to make students lose focus and creates a higher number of disruptions in the
classroom. This structure does not encourage interaction between students and focuses more on
the student as an individual completing their own work. Humans are social creatures that want
attention, and if they aren’t going to be able to get it from their classmates then they will
commonly act out to get attention from their teacher.
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One of the first areas that make a noticeable impact on student success is the physical
environment of the classroom. This can pertain to a variety of details. It can be structure,
resources, color. All of these can play a role in determining whether the classroom will be
conducive for learning.
Each may not have a large effect individually, however together they can work to strengthen a
student’s ability to learn. When a student first steps into a room they will make a judgment about
the type of class they are going to be taking. They will look to see how desks are arranged. They
will notice what is hanging on the walls. The way in which a teacher sets up their class allows
them to communicate with their students non-verbally.
By adding various learning centers or activity centers the students will know that this is a
classroom that likes to do hands-on experiments. It also conveys that they will not just sit and
take notes, but they will act out what ever subject.
CONCLUSION:
Overall, the classroom environment plays a crucial role in keeping students engaged and
allowing them to be successful within the classroom. The teacher can modify the environment to
achieve these results. There is a multitude of ways in which to do this. They can arrange the
desks in different patterns. They can decorate the walls with different assignments or items.
Students can be used to help lead the classroom in the way that the teacher wants to go. Even
adapting the lighting or the temperature of the room can increase the effectiveness of instruction
in the classroom. A good teacher is aware of these elements and the importance that they play in
student success. Without giving attention to the environment of a classroom the teacher is setting
their students up to be less successful
Citations:
Bucholz, Jessica L. and Julie L. Sheffler. “Creating a Warm and Inclusive Classroom
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