Monday, March 11, 2019
Case Study of Classroom Environment of Foreign and Local Students at Fiji Essay
The schoolroom environment is a study contri nonwithstandinging factor that can either enhance or ignore scholarly person performance. Several studies by scholars restrain also recognised the grave role played by schoolroom environment in tuition and teaching. Hence the literatureeratureerature review allow for critically examine much(prenominal) important aspects of chassisroom environment that differentiate classrooms of remote and local students of FNU Nadi campus. The factors which will be outlined be arranging the classroom space, the desk localisation methods, the environmental privilegeences of students such(prenominal) as brightnessing and temperature and also some crucial factors such as overcrowding in classrooms and disturbance level.Arranging the classroom space To suffer with, the arrangement of the classroom furniture is one of the differentiating factors in classroom environments. Studies by Linda Shalaway state that the classrooms physical layout reflects a teacher and his/her learning style (Shalaway 2011). schoolroom space includes the arrangement of furniture, classroom decoration and even student localization/ seating arrangement. In Reggio Emilia a town located in the north of Italy, its educators stress on the grandeur of classroom environment and call back it to be a nonher teacher (Shalaway 2011). trance Rivlin and Rothenberg (1976) found that teachers do not empathizem to know how to arrange the furniture. Therefore it is important for a teacher to design his/her classroom in such a way that it is open to cater for all the students subscribe tos. One such way outlined by Sturt is that we can arouse students interest by having interesting wall displays and fire objects around to make a complex environment. Although it is sad to note that classroom decoration is given the least concern especially at tertiary level and its high measure that it is given more importance now.Desk placement methods Moreover, the arrangement of desk is one of the common and most influential factors of classroom environment. Studies reveal that some teachers prefer to seat students in U mold settings so that they can make eye contact with every student (Shalaway 2011). Another research done by Holley & Steiner, (2005) revealed that seating arrangements that allowed class members to see everyone such as sitting in a circle contributed to the entry of a safe space. In respect to my research, the seating arrangement of foreign students classroom is generally in a U shape that facilitates weaken of mobility and group interaction. While the classroom of local students at FNU Nadi Campus, has desk arranged in single and double rows that mostly cater for independent operation. Contrary to that, in the research carried by Holley & Steiner (2005) students had stated that row-style seating was a characteristic of an grave classroom. Thus the desk placement should be such that it allows group interaction but at s ame(p) time is able to cater for independent work as well.Environmental preference Lighting Moving on, there argon certain environmental preferences that affect classroom environment. One of them is the amount of light or lighting in classroom either its inwrought light (sunlight) or artificial- such as light bulbs. Light is one of the elements of the agile environment that affects some students ability to learn (Burke & Burke-Samide 2004 236). The writer also states that those who like bright light performed better when tested in brightly lit classrooms. While students who preferred dim lights performed better in dimly lit atmosphere. Therefore it is wise to have ample light that best suits the need of everyone. In my research the classrooms of foreign students are normally lit by artificial lighting slice classrooms of local students usually use natural lighting. This shows that lighting preference differs from classroom to classroom. Although, it is advisable for teachers to adjust the classroom lights agree to the students preferences to help facilitate learning.Temperature Likewise, temperature is another environmental preference that differs in classroom environment situations. Research on the environment element of temperature reveals that most students prefer a warm yet comfortable instructional climate (Burke & Burke-Samide 2004 236). While Pepler (1972) found that non- air conditioned schools in the summer produced a wider dissemination of test scores (variance) compared with air-conditioned schools. This aligns with my research as the classrooms of foreign students have air condition to control temperature while the local students of FNU Nadi Campus bear the hot up of the normal climate. Therefore, its likely that the temperature either extremely hot or cold can affect student performance and productivity.Overcrowded classrooms Furthermore, overcrowding in classrooms in general affects the classroom environment. As Baron & Rodin (1978) found that as class size increases, so does well-educated helpless(prenominal)ness. Students in sizeable classes have less opportunity for the teacher to give personal praise and thus it leads to learned helplessness. Therefore classrooms should be such that it is able to cater/accommodate the need number of students. In respect to my research, the classrooms of foreign students are just king-size enough to accommodate small groups of a maximum of 8 students while classrooms of local students which are large enough to accommodate 40 students at a time usually get overcrowded because of lack of big gay classrooms and tutors have to cater for over 80 students at a time in the same classroom. Hence classroom size should be large enough to cater for everyones needs.Noise Last but not the least noise is one of those major elements that affect classroom environment. vocalise is an element of the environment that can affect academic achievement (Opolot- Okurut 2010 267- 277). Studies condu cted by Sturt (n.d), surveyed children in elementary schools that were beneath the flight path for Los Angeles International drome and compared it with children in quieter classrooms. It was found that children in cacophonous schools had higher blood draw and were more distractible compared to children in quieter classrooms. Likewise, Bronzaft and McCarthy (1975) studied children taught in classes on either status of a school. One side of the school faced a noisy railway track and it was found that 11% of teaching time was muddled on the noisy side and reading ability was down compared to children on the other side. This suggests that noise indeed affects students ability to learn. With respect to my research, classrooms of foreign students are enclosed thusly there is very little chance of noise disturbance while classrooms of local students are fairy open hence a lot of noise gets generated within and outside of the classroom.To conclude, it can be said that certain environme ntal factors such as classroom space, desk placement methods, light and temperature preferences a retentive with overcrowding and noise in classrooms affect the general unanimity of the classroom environment. From the literature findings I can suggest that things such as decorating classrooms will help make students energetic and enthusiastic towards learning. Also desk should be arranged in such a manner that it propagates both respective(prenominal) and group discussions. Similarly, educators should be considerate of students preferences of light and temperature. While at the same time avoid overcrowding and noisy situations in class. Hence in the long run it will help educators to wisely spend their investments in upgrading facilities as they will be able to analyse the impact of different environmental features so that students, faculty and universities get the most benefit from the spending.
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