The physical environment and pupil motivation in the classroom

Abstract

Motivation for learning can be identified as pupils’ efforts to find academic activities meaningful and worthwhile and attempt to get the planned learning benefits from them (Brophy, 2004). Motivating pupils can take many forms, however a simple way to motivate them is to change the physical setting of the classroom. For all pupils to work on the planned activities, the environment must be conducive to learning so as for them to pay attention, cooperate and remain on task. Bezzina (2001) writes how “productivity can be achieved through a positive climate, organized and readily available resources together with purposeful furniture placement” (p.15). One way of assessing the effectiveness of the physical layout on motivation is by exploring the classroom climate, what Borich (2016) describes as ‘warmth’ and ‘control’ dimensions. Therefore, through this dissertation, I observed how the physical layout affects the classroom climate and the social environment in which learning takes place so that one can better understand whether classroom layout affects motivation levels. Research was conducted in four different classrooms in one school. Each class was observed over a period of three lessons whilst each respective teacher was interviewed. Four pupil focus groups were also carried out with pupils from each respective classroom. Pupils and teachers expressed their wish of having larger classrooms which are better maintained, cluster seating and more learning centres. Teachers were in an agreement that the physical classroom setting has an impact on the classroom’s climate and social environment, hence effecting pupil motivation for learning.