Learning environment in curriculum evaluation: A review

Fraser, Barry J.

doi:10.1016/0191-765x(81)90014-8

Cited by 62 publications

(34 citation statements)

References 151 publications

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“…This effort was demonstrated in several published reviews (Anderson & Walberg, 1974;Fraser, 1981;Chavez, 1984;Fraser, 1986), and meta-analyses (Haertel et al, 1981;Fraser et al, 1992). Although a vast amount of information about learning environments was gathered from research, only in recent years has there been a movement towards using this information to suggest environmental change in the science classroom (Fraser, 1981;Hofstein & Lazarowitz, 1986).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The Learning Environment of High School Students in Chemistry and Biology Laboratories

Hofstein

Cohen

Lazarowitz

1996

Research in Science & Technological Education

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In this article a comparison of students' perceptions of laboratory classes in chemistry and biology is presented. By using the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI), pronounced and significant differences between chemistry and biology laboratory environments were found on two of the subscales: 'Integration' that describes the extent to which its laboratory activities are integrated with non-laboratory and classroom learning and 'Open-endedness', a subscale that measures the extent to which the laboratory emphasises an open-ended, divergent, and an individualised approach to experimentation. It is suggested that the SLEI can be considered as a sensitive tool to measure students' perceptions of their learning environment in different subject matters during the laboratory work. In this study the SLEI was also used to compare students' actual and preferred learning environments and to explore gender differences regarding this issue.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

The Learning Environment of High School Students in Chemistry and Biology Laboratories

Hofstein

Cohen

Lazarowitz

1996

Research in Science & Technological Education

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“…Both researchers and teachers have found it useful to use classroom climate dimensions as process criteria of effectiveness in curriculum evaluation. Classroom climate dimensions have differentiated revealingly between alternative curricula when measures of student achievement of cognitive and attitudinal goals have shown little sensitivity (Fraser, 1981;Fraser, Williamson, & Tobin, 1987). Research in the United States (Moos,199), Australia (Fraser, 1982), the Netherlands (Wubbels, Brekeimans, & Hooymayers, 1991), and Israel (Raviv, Raviv, & Reisel, 1990) compared students' and teachers' perceptions and found that, first, both students and teachers preferred a more positive classroom environment than they perceived as being actually present and, second, teachers tended to perceive the classroom environment more positively than did their students in the Same classrooms.…”

Section: Background: Field Of Classroom Environmentmentioning

confidence: 98%

Associations Between Student Outcomes and Psychosocial Science Environment

McRobbie

Fraser

1993

The Journal of Educational Research

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115

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Past research on classroom environment was extended to science laboratory class settings in an investigation of associations between student outcomes and classroom environment, The sample consisted of 1,594 senior high school chemistry students in ! X2 classes. The Science Laboratory Environment Inventory was used to assess student cohesiveness, openendedness, integration, rule clarity, and material environments in the laboratory dass, and student outcomes encompassed two inquiry skill and four attitude measures. Simple, multiple, and canonical analyses were conducted separately for two units of analysis (student scores and class means) and separately with and without control for general ability. Past research was replicated in that the nature of the science laboratory classroom environment accounted for appreciable proportions of the variance in both cognitive and affective outcomes beyond that attributable to general ability.he strongest tradition during the previous quarter of T a century of classroom environment research has involved investigation of the predictability of students' cognitive and affective learning outcomes from their perceptions of classroom environment (Fraser, 1989; Fraser, in press;Fraser & Walberg, 1991). Past research provides convincing and consistent support for the predictive validity of student perceptions in accounting for appreciable amounts of variance in learning outcomes, beyond that attributable to student characteristics such as general ability. This pattern has been replicated in numerous countries and for a variety of outcomes and classroom environment instruments.The present study of associations between students' outcomes and their perceptions of classroom psychosocial environment was distinctive in several ways. First, we used the Science Laboratory Environment Inventory (SLEI) in the first study of outcome-environment relationships specifically in laboratory classroom settings. Second, to permit comparison with results from method- BARRY J. FRASER Curtin University of Technologyologically diverse past studies, we analyzed our data in several different ways (i.e., simple, multiple, and canonical correlation analyses). Third, we compared the magnitudes of environment-outcome relationships for two units of analysis, namely, the individual student's score and the class mean score. Fourth, we performed all analyses separately with and without control for student general ability.

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“…The aggregate student characteristics affected the classroom social climate. A high percentage of females seemed to favor the establishment of sociallyorganized climates (21), as studies by Fraser (1981) and Haertel, Walberg, and Haertel (1981) have shown. A high percentage of children from underprivileged homes was more likely to lead to the development of warm (40) and rule-oriented (29) climates.…”

Section: Structural Equation Modelingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For reviews on contextual characteristics, see Docker, Fraser, and Fisher (1989) and Hearn and Moos (1978); for organizational characteristics, see Anderson and Walberg (1972) and Randhawa & Michayluk (1975); for aggregate student characteristics and other factors, see Barclay and Demers (1981) and Fraser (1981).…”

Section: Appendixmentioning

confidence: 99%

How the socioecological characteristics of the classroom affect academic achievement

Bennacer

2000

Eur J Psychol Educ

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The aim of this study was to grasp and understand the socialpsychological mechanisms by which the classroom socioecological environment determines academic achievement. Wefirst developed and tested a general theoretical model (on a sample of 51 classrooms containing 1123junior high school students) which allows us to consider the classroom social climate as a dependent and independent variable. We then attempted to accurately define the influence mechanism and develop a structural model to account for the relationships and interrelationships between variables. We also tried to reach two principal goals in the psychology of learning environments: one is to determine what classroom social environments would be advantageous to students, and the other is to identify the factors that determine that climate, The results indicated a climate-dependent discrepancy between teachers' grades and achievement test scores. They have some practical implications for optimizing the classroom social climate.Introduction.

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Learning environment in curriculum evaluation: A review

Cited by 62 publications

References 151 publications

The Learning Environment of High School Students in Chemistry and Biology Laboratories

The Learning Environment of High School Students in Chemistry and Biology Laboratories

Associations Between Student Outcomes and Psychosocial Science Environment

How the socioecological characteristics of the classroom affect academic achievement

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