Maths and English
Diana Aynaci, Barbara Solomon, Allan Jeanville
Maths and English - TSA
What is the project?
To look at seating plans with the classroom and to understand how different layouts can affect mood / behaviour / learning.
Why are you doing this?
How are you going to do this?
Investigation into seating plans and classroom layouts.
This ARC project is all about looking at room layouts. The teachers in this team shared many of the same students across classes, and wanted to explore if the classroom layout had any impact on learning - considering both positives and negatives.
In order to find this out, the team used surveys to get a better understanding of their student’s learning environment preferences.
Quality Team Feedback
Feedback notes
Data collection
In order to find this out, the team used surveys to get a better understanding of their student’s learning environment preferences.
After gathering our survey results, we grouped several of the question responses into key themes. This helped us draw conclusions from the many questions we posed. The key themes are as follows:
Results and findings
Seating A
40/95 learners felt that the seating was uncomfortable affected their concentration.
Seating B
There were no major majorities that felt the seating was comfortable.
Room Layout A
The responses were very close in %. Most learners felt that the room layouts at the TSA
enhanced their learning.
Room Layout B
There was no majority that disagreed with room layout having a negative impact on their
learning.
Engaged A
The blue line on the graph indicates that they feel that learners who do not want to be
asked questions sit at the back
Engaged B
Learners felt that students that sit near the front were more engaged.
Conclusions
The results of our ARC project, ‘Classroom, seating and layout rating scale for students’, carried out by Diana, Barbara and Allan, during the academic year 2017/18, shows that overall learners indicated through their responses in the questionnaire that the room layout is satisfactory, but the seats are uncomfortable. This was felt to have an effect on their engagement and learning.
Implications for practice:
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Seating plans to have less confident learners closer to the front and more able learners further back in the classroom setting
-
Make use of more peer support – matching a less able learner with a more able learner for some activities
-
Colour code learners on seating plan, for example red for ESOL/less able/MDL , amber for intermediate learners and green, most confident and able
These initiatives should improve the learner experience and level of engagement by increasing peer support.
Future steps?
-
Change room layouts and re-survey learners
-
Incorporate learners in to the analysis of results
-
Staff could be encourage to do surveys on lighting and temperature
-
Take a wider sample of students
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Sample adult students as we only looked at 16-18.
References
‘Seating arrangements that promote positive academic and behavioural outcomes: a review of empirical research’, Rachel Wannarka and Kathy Ruhl
‘Seven criteria for an effective classroom environment’, Buckingham New University