Classroom Climate and Class Success A Case Study at the University Level

DeYoung, Alan J.

doi:10.1080/00220671.1977.10884999

Cited by 39 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 3 publications

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“…The basic logic underlying the approach involves, first, using assessments of student perceptions of both their actual and preferred classroom environment to identify discrepancies between the actual classroom environment and that preferred by students and, second, implementing strategies aimed at reducing existing discrepancies. The proposed methods have been applied successfully previously at the secondary school level (Fraser, Seddon & Eagleson, 1982), the primary school level (Fraser & Deer, 1983), and at the higher education level (DeYoung, 1977). This is an especially noteworthy practical application of classroom environment research because it provides instructors with a tangible approach for improving their classrooms.…”

Section: Desirable Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validity and use of an instrument for assessing classroom psychosocial environment in higher education

Fraser¹,

Treagust²

1986

High Educ

135

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A strong tradition in research in primary and secondary schools has involved student and teacher perceptions of psychological characteristics of actual or preferred classroom environment. This paper provides a foundation for the extension of this tradition to the l~igher education level by describing the development, validation, and use of a new instrument, the College and University Classroom Environment Inventory (CUCEI), suitable for small higher education classes often referred to as seminars. The CUCEI assesses students' or instructors' perceptions of the following seven psychosocial dimensions of actual or preferred classroom environment: personalization, involvement, stuclent cohesiveness, satisfaction, task orientation, innovation, and individualization. Administration of the CUCEI to 372 students in 34 classes and to 20 instructors attested to the internal consistency reliability and discriminant validity of the actual and preferred forms with either the individual or the class mean as the unit of analysis, and supported the ability of the actual form to differentiate between the perceptions of students in different classrooms. A research application of the CUCEI involving associations between student outcomes and classroom environment tentatively suggested that the nature of the classroom environment affects outcomes. Another research application suggested that both students and instructors preferred a more favorable classroom environment than the one actually present, and that instructors viewed classroom environments more positively than did their students in the same classrooms. Desirable future applications of the CUCEI for research purposes and in improving teaching in higher education are considered.The first main aim of this paper is to describe the development and validation of a new instrument to assess perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment in university and college classrooms. The secor/d major purpose is to report the first two research uses of this instrument in, respectively, a study of associations between student outcomes and classroom environment and an investigation of differences between students and instructors in their perceptions of actual and preferred classroom environment. As well, desirable future research directions involving the new instrument are suggested. Before describing the development and use of the new instrument for the higher education level, important background information about analogous work at the primary and secondary school levels is briefly reviewed in an attempt to place the new work into context. Analogous past research in schoolsOver the past two decades, considerable interest has been shown internationally in the conceptualization, measurement, and investigation of perceptions of psychosocial characteristics of the learning environment of primary and secondary schools. Classroom environment is now firmly established as an active field of study through recent key publications including several books (Moos,

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Section: Desirable Future Research Directionsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Validity and use of an instrument for assessing classroom psychosocial environment in higher education

Fraser¹,

Treagust²

1986

High Educ

135

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

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“…That information strengthens primary prevention's generative base, that is, it focuses attention on specific environmental qualities that might be changed to improve pupils' adjustment, thus setting the stage for interventions based on informed modification of class environment. Although past efforts of the latter type can be cited, most are based on anecdote or case studies (DeYoung, 1977;Jason, Ferone, & Anderegg, 1979;Moos, 1979}. Consultation with teachers is one possible way to intervene; another is to use "real-class" and "ideal-class" CES data to provide teachers with feedback, and suggestions on how to construct change.…”

Section: Overviewmentioning

confidence: 98%

Perceptions of classroom environment and their relationship to children's mood, achievement, popularity and adjustment

Wright¹,

Cowen²,

Kaplan³

1982

J Primary Prevent

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This study examines relationships between: (a) teacher perception and (b) student-teacher convergence of perception of environment, and student mood, achievement, popularity and adjustment, for students in general and for "problem" (i.e., acting-out, anxious, and unpopular) subgroups. Subjects included 511 5th and 6th graders, and their 23 teachers, from 4 suburban schools. A short form of the Classroom Environment Scale (CES) was used to assess teacher and student perception of the classroom. Students also completed mood adjective checklists and peer sociometric ratings. Reading and math report card grades and achievement test scores were recorded for the school year, and teachers submitted adjustment ratings for all students. Since students and teachers saw their classrooms differently, the two perspectives were studied separately. The four CES scales, based on teacher perceptions and student-teacher convergence that best predicted positive mood, peer popularity and teacher rated adjustment were Involvement, Order and Organization, Affiliation, and Rule Clarity. Findings were directionally similar for the average class and problem students, though stronger for the latter.

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“…Although profiles of milieu inhabitants' perceptions of actual and preferred environment scores have been employed successfully in facilitating environmental change in psychiatric hospital wards (Pierce, Trickett, and Moos, 1972), college environments (DeYoung, 1977), staff work environments (Schroeder, 1979), and alcoholism treatment programs (Bliss, Moos, and Bromet, 1979), only a single report of the application of these methods in school classrooms has appeared to date (Fraser, 1981b). This small-scale study involved a teacher from a private secondary school in a suburb of Sydney in employing actual and preferred forms of the ICEQ in a systematic attempt to improve the environment of one of his classes.…”

Section: Person-environment Fitmentioning

confidence: 98%

Australian Research on Classroom Environment: State of the Art

Fraser¹

1981

Australian Journal of Education

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International work involving the measurement and investigation of perceptions of psychosocial characteristics of school classrooms has firmly established classroom learning environment as a thriving field of study. Furthermore Australian educational researchers have made sizable and distinctive contributions to this research effort. This paper provides an overview of overseas work on the development and use of classroom environment instruments, reports normative and validation data from the use of new or modified scales among large Australian samples, and reviews the Australian research in the area. In particular, Australian research has involved predictive validity studies of outcome-environment relationships, use of environment perceptions as criterion variables, investigation of differences between student and teacher perceptions of actual and preferred environment, person-environment fit studies of relationships between student learning and actual-preferred congruence, and practical attempts to facilitate environmental change. Taken together, Australian studies provide much evidence which supports the validity of various classroom environment instruments, which attests to their usefulness as sources of both predictor and criterion variables for a variety of educational research purposes, and which suggests promising new directions for future research.

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Classroom Climate and Class Success A Case Study at the University Level

Cited by 39 publications

References 3 publications

Validity and use of an instrument for assessing classroom psychosocial environment in higher education

Validity and use of an instrument for assessing classroom psychosocial environment in higher education

Perceptions of classroom environment and their relationship to children's mood, achievement, popularity and adjustment

Australian Research on Classroom Environment: State of the Art

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