I think the learning environment is very important. Students can be distracted by many things and have poor attention for a variety of reasons. Lighting, comfort of chairs, temperature, and glare from the windows all can have a negative effect on learning.
Hi Vicki,
You make a number of very good points about how the environment can really impact the learning of students. The seating arrangement can really draw the students into the class if they feel a part of the instructional flow and discussion.
Gary
Hi Carrie,
Great example of how to regain the attention of students throughout long class sessions. Plus, I am sure the students will start to look at how you may have "messed up" a procedure or preparation method.
Gary
Hi Robert,
The College Mindset List always brings me back to reality as I am preparing to start a new school year. Your example is dead on in terms of dating many of us in relation to the cultural examples we bring into our classes.
Gary
The learning environment must be adaptable to the needs of the delivery of the instruction and learning activities.
My experience has taught me that having students, yes even adult students, re-arrange the classroom furniture can foster team oriented assignments, and small group discussion. Re-setting the class room for panel discussions, large scale open discussion, is all about setting the stage for action and interaction.
Besides improving the quality of communication, with learners facing one another, the physical activity often energizes the class and gets them up and moving.
Dennis
Obviously it needs to be a comfortable environment, where students (and instructors) feel that they can pay attention to what is going on in the class, attentively. I think wall posters/art/graphs/etc. (whatever applies to the subject matter are important. It's important to make sure that you have the tools in the room to maximize and present information in all types of learning styles i.e. visual - so you would need a screen and audiovisual equipment. Make sure you have a writing tool that can clearly display whatever you are writing on. How the seats that the students sit in are arranged can encourage or inhibit student participation in class.
I try to create a comfortable and welcoming environment for students despite a windowless and often cold classroom. Since I teach English Composition, I have bookshelves full of relevant reading, a bulletin board with menus, cartoons and interesting articles, posters on the walls and phrases from local restaurant reviews written by students with bright markers on chart paper. More importantly, I try to establish a non-competitive writing environment where students are encouraged (but not required) to share their work. I use a lot of humorous readings to lighten things up, and my Yiddish word of the day is a big hit that tells my students a little bit about what's important to me as a person - Yiddish words are fun to say. Oy vay!
Alicia,
I am glad this helped you. In my current class (culinary math) I had all my students write one math question relative to the chapter as an assignment. I didn't put too many restrictions and some even re-wrote some of the problems in the book, but it seemed to help them understand what they were reading. I would guess that 99% of the students have never been successful with word problems and I rack my head everyday to help them "see" the question instead of just reading it!
In my class, we teach baking and Pastry for 5 sometimes, 8 hours a day. We have to give breaks so they can retain the information given to them. Too much information for too long you will lose your class. Sometimes I'll will "mes up" something to see if the students were paying attention and will call me on it. Helps with them to see that I am human too.
The learning environment plays a supportive role in the instructional process. If the students are uncomfortable in the environment, they will be less successful in mastering the materials.
The best way to adapt the environment in your class is to view it from the student's viewpoint. If you cannot be objective enough to do this, you can invite a colleague to come in and assess your environment for you. A fresh perspective can often help.
Often the environment will make the difference between boredom and learning for a student. I've had students make a circle of desks, face away from the whiteboard and projector, or even take a mini field-trip to make a point. Having the same things every class ends up being boring and repetitive.
I think a lot of us can relate to that (and I haven't seen my 40th birthday yet!). I have a whole range of pop-culture references that I would intinctively use that I know would fly right over the heads of my younger students. In fact, some years ago, I used to give an essay assignment about whether America is designed to preserve the "rights of the many" or the "rights of the one." As prep for the essay, we would watch Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan (remember, the one where Spock dies at the end, and talks about "the needs of the many..."). I've referred to that assignment in recent years, and I get blank stares about "Spock" and "Captain Kirk". Prior to this new Star Trek movie, I think almost an entire generation of kids have grown up with no real understanding of Star Trek, and that follows a couple of generations that grew up with Star Trek as an integral part of pop culture.
I don't think I could get away with that assignment anymore, unless I did it with the understanding that the students are bringing no preconceptions and knowledge about Star Trek into the discussion. I'd have to start from scratch in prepping them for the movie, much less the essay assignment itself.
Of course, Beloit College puts out its annual "College Mindset List" to put all of this into perspective.
Hi Susan,
Good point. We have to keep our references current even if it means learning "stuff" that we don't really see as being relevant to our personal lives.
Gary
Hi Susan,
Well stated. Safety in all aspects needs to be considered when setting up a classroom. There are three components to every class for students, social, how they interact with other students, cognitive, the mental processing that needs to occur and physical, the use of large and small muscles to do certain tasks. Having an understanding of how these three components interact for each student is important for classroom/lab planning.
Gary
Hi Sarah,
It is amazing how just the arrangement of the chairs for different learning opportunities can make such a big different with students. Your using the different arrangements lets you students know what type of class they can expect when you have them set in certain ways.
Gary
The interesting thing about humor, I have found, is that as I get older, my references to humorous things have become out of date. I mentioned Mr.T in a class the other day and there were blank stares. Most people didn't even know who I was talking about and this was a class full of instructors!
In my opinion, the creation of a perception of safety by the students is an integral part of a successful learning environment. Safety, (emotional and psychological - not necessarily physical)is something that must be established from day one in the class for the students to more readily open up and share in class discussion, group assignments, journals, etc.
Do develop a safe learning environment, I have the students do a large amount of group work in the first few weeks of the quarter making sure that the groups are arranged so students have the opportunity to work closely with each person in the class. I find that the diversity among group interaction creates an ease and rapport that I find works very well in developing a positive learning environment.
Ginny, that is so true. In fact, you just gave me an idea about how I can change up my environment a little. I am going to encourage each student to think of a question they would like to have answered. Even if they have to soul search, that question can help clarify something for other students. In addition, it might create an attention getting mood. They are less likely to fall asleep if more people are involved.
One of the things in the classrooms that affects learning is the layout of the tables. For marketing classes, I do very little lecturing with PowerPoints and instead focus on discussions of concepts from the assignmed reading, items students have brought in and collaborative learning activities. I often move the tables into a "conference room" type arrangement so that students can look at each other instead of at me. If it is a larger class, I'll arrange the tables into a few clusters of tables. This leads to more interaction among the group members.
If student is uncomfortable in there leaening enviroment. The student will have trouble learning.
