Embedded Files
Methodology
Methodology
The first data point was a pretest about student attitudes towards seating in school. The survey was divided into three sections. The first was a Likert test that asked the students to rank the importance of seating factors on a scale of one to five. The second section asked students to rank their preference of seating from the following choices: pods, rows, U shape, table partners, and flexible seating. Flexible seating was not defined prior to the survey but each option displayed a picture as an example of the choice. Finally, the third section had an open-ended reflection with two questions. These were the only question that differed from the pre-test. They were created for students to reflect on their time during the study and with flexible seating. The first asked the students how traditional academic seating has impacted their learning and the second was for students to try and predict how flexible seating could impact their learning. This survey was given to students via iPads, and they responded anonymously. I chose to use an online survey, because my students had responded best to online tests. They also allowed for students to express their honest opinions without fear of having their handwriting recognized. I chose to provide images of the seating arrangements with the questions in order for students who have trouble visualizing terms to have a reference point. Three students left at the end of third quarter and thus were unable to take the post-survey.
The Survey
The Survey
A copy of the survey questions are below:
Section 1: Rate on a scale of 1 (little to no impact) to 5 (major impact)
- In traditional academic classroom seating, how much of an impact does the comfort of the seats have on your ability to learn?
- In traditional academic classroom seating how much of an impact does the seating have on your ability to focus/work?
- In traditional academic classroom seating how much of an impact does the seating have on the environment/climate of the class? Classroom culture.
- In traditional academic classroom seating how much of an impact does the seating have on student to student interaction?
- In traditional academic classroom seating how much of an impact does the seating have on student to teacher interaction?
- In traditional academic class seating how much freedom of movement is there?
- Is freedom of movement in a classroom setting important to you?
Section 2: Please select from the following options which one applies to the question.
Pods, Rows, U shape, Table Partners, and Flexible Seating
- Which style of seating is ideal for your learning.
- Which style of seating is the second most ideal for your learning.
- Which style of seating is the third most ideal for your learning.
- Which style of seating is the fourth most ideal for your learning.
- Which style of seating is the least ideal for your learning.
Section 3: Please respond to the complete question.
- How do you think flexible seating impacted your learning?
- How do you think flexible seating impacted your engagement?
Data Analysis
Data Analysis
Following the student interviews and culture survey, I knew that I wanted to compare the pre and post survey results for the questions asking about impact of comfort. I created a graph that compared the pre and post survey and ran a statical test for significance comparing the data. The chi-square statistic from the test was 9.5689 resulting in the p-value of .048351. The result was significant at p < .05. This means that there was a 4.8 percent chance the change in data occurred naturally. So the change itself is statistically significant. There were many different variables that could have impacted this but the implementation of flexible seating was a major variable introduce during the study that could have changed the opinion of the students. This change was extremely important because the value of students shifted more towards valuing the comfort of seating. Flexible seating allowed for options for students to find something that is comfortable to them. What was comfortable to one student may not be the same for another and thus flexible seating allows those students to meet their own individual needs.
A main point of focus for the study was that of engagement and ability to focus. It was important to focus on change for this question. I created a graph that compared the pre and post survey and ran a statical test for significance comparing the data. The chi-square statistic from the test was 10.3252 resulting in the p-value was .035292. The result was significant at p < .05. This means there was a 3.5 percent chance that the change in data occurred naturally. The data indicated that students found that the seating was impactful on their ability to focus. This showed that students throughout the study found that flexible seating impacted their perception on their ability to focus. Students were able to compare their ability to focus in my classroom with flexible seating with their other classes with traditional academic seating. Their perception changed to place more impact on how important seating was in their learning.
The importance of freedom of movement to my students was relatively high prior to the study. I wanted to see if the study changed that opinion at all. I created a graph that compared the pre and post survey and ran a statical test for significance comparing the data. The chi-square statistic from the test was 2.2195 resulting in a p-value of .695454. The result was not significant at p < .05. This test informed me that there was not a statistically significant change in the data and that the students continued to value freedom of movement in the classroom. If anything the study potentially reinforced this view as students shifted slightly to having a stronger feeling about the issue.
Having put a major emphasis on classroom culture and environment, I knew that I needed to highlight the question that specifically covered that aspect. I created a graph that compared the pre and post survey and ran a statistical test for significance comparing the data. The chi-square statistic from the test was 10.8258 resulting in a p-value .028593. The result was significant at p < .05. This means there was a 2.9 percent chance that the change in data occurred naturally. There was a statistically significant shift to a greater impact of seating on the environment of the class. The question itself does not ask if it has a positive or negative impact on classroom environment, so I was unable to extrapolate a potential positive impact just from this data. In coordination with specific questions from the interviews and culture survey I would however connect it with this data to say it was a positive impact.
Pre-test
Pre-test
Post-Test
Post-Test
Following the survey, I wanted to see if student's preferences on seating have changed. Using the pre and post survey question concerning the most ideal form of seating, I performed a statistical analysis and calculated the chi-square statistic of 8.3579. The p-value was .079313 meaning the results were barely not significant at p < .05. The test showed that the data was only 2% away from being statistically significant. Having analyzed the raw data, there was an increase in students who preferred flexible seating as their idea form of seating for learning. I expected the preference to have increased for flexible seating because that is what the students were exposed to during the study and This data informed me that student opinion did change over the course of the study and going forward when planning my seating arrangements and options, I need to take flexible seating into account because for both pre and post tests students preferred flexible seating.
Pre-test
Pre-test
Post-test
Post-test
Following the survey, I wanted to see if student's preferences on seating have changed. Using the pre and post survey question concerning the least ideal form of seating, I performed a statistical analysis and calculated the chi-square statistic was 2.2465. The p-value was .690527 meaning the result were not significant at p < .05. The test showed that the data statistically barely changed and that row seating was still the least preferred seating arrangement by far. This data was extremely relevant to my classroom because space is very limited. With the large tables I have, row seating was the most inefficient ways of setting up the seating in my room. The results of this point show me that only is that set up the least efficient but also the least preferred by students. There were some students who preferred row seating as their ideal form of seating and flexible seating allowed for those students to still have row seating as a option but just as the entire class.
Triangulation with Pre-Survey, Climate Survey, Speed Reads, and Interviews
Triangulation with Pre-Survey, Climate Survey, Speed Reads, and Interviews
I do not think that prior to the study students had considered the idea that flexible seating could have an impact on their education and thus this study brought the subject to the forefront of their thinking. That was reflected in their responses concerning the importance of comfort, impact of seating on focus, and seating's impact on engagement. The responses to those three questions in the pre-survey were fairly weighted on the little to no impact to medium impact yet on the post survey they all increased to having more to a lot of impact on the students. This change represents to me that the students were able to reflect on their own academic experiences during the study and determine that seating, specifically flexible seating, had an impact on their learning. As shown with the speed read data the students did have consistent academic growth in regards to comprehension of the language. The climate survey and student interview showed that during the study students saw a positive difference in classroom environment and interactions between students and the teacher. A lot of them attributed that to the seating in combination with other factors such as the teacher. For me the most important take away from the data collected was that of student perceptions. Students were able to explain their attitudes towards this class. A generalization of their feedback was that students felt comfortable in class and that they wanted to be their. In education that is half of the battle. Students have informed me that they are going to continue with the program beyond the normal two years and the enrollment numbers for next years support this statement. Students come wanting to learn and thus less time is needed for behavior redirection or interventions and can be spent on giving effective research based instruction continuing their growth with the language.
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