Learning Environments Research

Active learning strategies engage students and promote student-centered learning environments. Implementing active learning in a HyFlex environment during the Fall of 2020 global pandemic was challenging. We describe the Interactive Synchronous HyFlex approach to teaching design thinking at the introductory college level and explore impacts on students’ basic psychological needs, including autonomy, competence, and relatedness. Aligned with Self-Determination Theory, active learning has been shown to motivate students and increase performance and retention in science, engineering, and mathematics disciplines, among others (Freeman et al., 2014; Lo & Hew, 2019). In active environments, the predominant mode of instruction is not lecture based and it engages students through student–to–student interactions and student–to–instructor interactions. The flipped classroom is a pedagogical model in which the typical lecture and homework elements of a course are reversed. This model of instruction is ideal for our design thinking course used as a context for this study because students are challenged to learn by doing. In active learning courses, students engage in video-recorded lectures or talks, text-based materials and online quizzes, or other preparation activities before and in preparation for class (Bishop & Verleger, 2013; Lo et al., 2017; O’Flaherty & Phillips, 2015). Scheduled class meeting time is used for engagement and interaction between students informed by a social constructivist learning theory. Students challenge each other to apply what they have learned with guidance and support from the instructor.

It is becoming increasingly important for teachers to collaborate. Teacher community is found to be a fruitful notion when thinking about improving collaboration. Teachers can be prepared for working in such communities during teacher education. We examined how the practice of collaboration within different types of groups in teacher education can be optimised, aiming at an improvement in the shared domain, group identity and shared interactional repertoire of these groups. We included four types of groups: subject matter groups, research groups, mentor groups and reflection groups. Focus groups with teacher educators, student teachers and community experts were conducted to gather ideas for the improvement of the institutional design for community development. Combining these ideas with the research literature, we formulated a list of design principles for each of the types of groups. In conversations with teacher educators, the viability of these principles was reviewed, resulting in particular sets of design principles for each group. These sets consist of principles which are already used within the groups, as well as principles that are completely new to the groups. The design arrangement for the mentor group consists of the largest number of design principles, while the smallest number of principles are applicable to the research group. The procedure used in this study can serve as an example of how to create a design aimed at the development of student teacher groups as social and collaborative learning environments.

Data suggest that teachers lack confidence in teaching English language learners (ELLs). Teachers’ perceived shortcomings have been identified but little is known about why these perceptions exist or how they might be associated with broader measures of efficacy. We surveyed 578 Californian teachers of ELLs to explore the relations among teachers’ perceptions of ELL strategies and school programs, teachers’ ratings of collective efficacy in meeting all students’ needs, and the general school climate. Descriptive data and two multiple regression analyses suggest two primary findings: teachers’ perceived collective efficacy for English language development (ELD) instruction was higher than their individual efficacy (relative to previous studies), and measures of general school-wide collective efficacy when associated with perceived strength of ELD practices and programs. These results suggest that school-wide reforms designed to improve ELL instruction might yield greater collective efficacy. Policies that could enhance teachers’ perceived ELD efficacy are discussed.

Prior findings on the effects of active learning environments were limited by both research design and data-analysis techniques, such as lack of controls over confounding factors and misuse of statistical modeling. We (1) investigated the effects of active learning environments on student achievement and motivation and (2) overcame the limitations of prior studies. Using a three-group design, the effects of physical learning environments and pedagogical approaches were successfully separated. Active learning environments were found to have little influence, whereas active learning and teaching were found to have a significantly-positive influence on student achievements. The findings contribute to understandings of active learning environments in higher education, and invite more debate about whether further investments in active learning classrooms are worthwhile.

Ball State University re-designed five classrooms—as part of an Interactive Learning Space (ILS) Initiative—to provide educators with learning spaces that could be used to implement and assess the effectiveness of student-centred instructional practices. The purpose of the current investigation was to explore how pedagogy implemented within ILSs influenced student outcomes. Participants responded to questionnaires assessing perceived instructor effectiveness, perceived influence of ILS design on educational practices, academic engagement, and initial impressions of the learning spaces. The relationship between instructor effectiveness and academic engagement was partially mediated by the influence that interactive learning spaces exerted on the types of activities implemented during course sessions. Additionally, we identified two ILSs that differentially influenced levels of academic engagement reported by learners. The characteristics of ILSs that facilitate the implementation of effective instructional practices and promote positive student outcomes are discussed.

The purpose of this study, in part, was to confirm the factor structure of the School-Level Environment Questionnaire, which assesses six school climate factors that can be considered important for improving schools. The study also tested a research model of the relationships between the school climate, teachers’ self-efficacy and job satisfaction. The participants included 781 Western Australian high-school teachers in 29 schools. When the data were analysed by means of structural equation modelling, teacher self-efficacy and teacher job satisfaction were both related to school climate dimensions and there was also a relationship between teacher self-efficacy and job satisfaction. These results provide practical information for improving school climate and suggest that it is worthwhile for school principals to consider factors within the school climate and how they might be enhanced.

The number of students in the United States choosing science, technology, engineering or mathematics careers is declining at a time when demand for these occupations is rapidly increasing. Numerous efforts have been undertaken to reverse this trend, yet results are uncertain. One’s attitude is key to many choices one makes, and this includes, for many, what career is pursued. Hence, teachers, informal science educators and researchers often wish to measure children’s attitudes towards science using a pretest and a posttest to determine the effects of a curriculum, an activity or an intervention. However, measuring children’s attitudes toward science has been problematic because of both the limited use of basic psychometrics in checking reliability and validity of instruments and the lack of a single construct of students’ attitudes towards science being surveyed. This article reports the development and testing of an instrument for measuring students’ science attitudes across several dimensions. Thirty-two scientists and teachers from the northeastern and south central United States participated in content validity trials. The instrument was field tested with 549 children (92 elementary-school students, 327 middle-school students and 130 high-school students) from 6 rural and suburban school systems located in the northeastern United States to determine inter-item reliability for each dimension. The resulting instrument, entitled My Attitudes Toward Science (MATS), has 40 items that measure four dimensions: (1) Attitude towards the subject of science; (2) Desire to become a scientist; (3) Value of science to society; and (4) Perception of scientists. The MATS, as a multidimensional instrument, can measure several facets of students’ attitude toward science and is designed to be used across grades levels and to be scored easily.

Research on learning environments at the higher-education level has been quite sparse compared with studies at other educational levels. Because statistics is perceived as a difficult subject across disciplines, it suffers from low passing rates in many universities. This study involved validating questionnaires for assessing the psychosocial environment and student attitudes associated with learning business statistics in computing laboratory workshops. The Business Statistics Computer Learning Environment Inventory (BSCLEI) and Attitude to Business Analytics instrument were validated with 275 students enrolled across various business degree programs in the United Kingdom over two academic years. Various data analyses (including exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses) supported the validity of these two questionnaires, thereby paving the way for their future use in research and practical applications relevant to learning environments in higher-education statistics workshop classrooms.

Bài báo này báo cáo một nghiên cứu về môi trường học tập trong các lớp học kết nối mạng máy tính. Nghiên cứu này độc đáo ở chỗ nó đã tiến hành đánh giá cả môi trường lớp học vật chất và tâm lý xã hội trong những môi trường máy tính này thông qua việc sử dụng sự kết hợp giữa bảng câu hỏi và đánh giá công thái học. Nghiên cứu bao gồm việc thực hiện một bảng câu hỏi dành cho sinh viên nhằm đánh giá các khía cạnh của môi trường học tập tâm lý xã hội trong những môi trường này, và liên hệ các yếu tố này với sự hài lòng của sinh viên và những khía cạnh quan trọng của môi trường học tập vật chất. Mẫu nghiên cứu gồm 1404 sinh viên từ 81 lớp học tại Úc và Canada. Bảng câu hỏi đánh giá năm khía cạnh của môi trường tâm lý xã hội cho thấy tính hợp lệ yếu tố tốt và độ tin cậy nhất quán nội bộ. Khi sự hài lòng được sử dụng làm biến phụ thuộc, môi trường tâm lý xã hội trong lớp học (đặc biệt là tính tự chủ/độc lập và định hướng nhiệm vụ) có mối liên hệ đáng kể và trực tiếp với sự hài lòng của sinh viên đối với việc học của họ. Ngược lại, không tìm thấy mối liên hệ trực tiếp giữa sự hài lòng của sinh viên và các biện pháp của môi trường lớp học vật chất, chẳng hạn như không gian làm việc và môi trường hình ảnh. Tuy nhiên, đã xuất hiện các mối liên hệ có ý nghĩa thống kê giữa các biến môi trường học tập vật chất và tâm lý xã hội trong các lớp học sử dụng công nghệ thông tin mới. Những mối liên hệ này gợi ý một mô hình năng suất giáo dục cho môi trường học tập trong các lớp học giàu công nghệ. Các nghiên cứu trường hợp định tính đã cung cấp thông tin chi tiết hơn về các lớp học được lựa chọn.