Thursday, December 4, 2008
I have found this diagram interesting from the start when Dr Quek first spoke about it in Session 3. I am a visual learner and this diagram encapsulated much of what we have been learning in this module. After having done some more reading of some of the articles, I am reminded of this diagram, as much of the research centres on the relationship between the learning environment, the people and the personalities, as well as certain terms, like alpha press and beta press were used in one of the articles I have read. This link has helped me to internalise better the key ideas or fundamentals in the field of learning environments.That many of the readings deal with the learning environment for different subjects, and also research conducted in different countries, means that these different learning environments have been explored to see how effective / ideal they are in producing student outcomes. Much of the research also rests on the premise that "the one way to find out about, say, the suitability of the learning environment is to ask students, as well as teachers and trained observers" (Walberg, 1976, p 159). This diagram captures the history behind the development of the field of learning environments, as well as what much of the research today is based on.
I have included a link to an article that gives a brief overview on these aspects of the learning environment, and also defines these terms: "classroom climate", "educational climate" and "social climate".
http://go2lily.com/Documents/School%20classroom%20climate.pdf