The Effects of Classroom Seating Arrangement On On-Task Behavior and Academic Performance

1. The Effects of Classroom Seating Arrangement On On-Task Behavior and Academic Performance An Action Research Project By Danielle Steger EDUC 702.22 Spring 2010

2. Table of Contents • Research Design • Threats to Internal Validity • Threats to External Validity • Proposed Data • Proposed Data Analysis • Proposed Data • Proposed Data Analysis • References

3. Research Design • Quasi Experimental: Nonequivalent Control Group Design. • Two groups: Designated treatment group (X1) and control group (X2) are pretested, exposed to a treatment (X), and posttested (O). • Symbolic Design: O X1 O O X2 O

4. Threats to Internal Validity • History – Student lateness, illness, absences, weather conditions, behavioral outbursts, other disturbances (i.e. phone calls, announcements). • Maturation – Increased focus due to age and maturity. • Testing – Test format does not vary, familiarity could improve scores. • Instrumentation –Researcher created student surveys presented by two different teachers. • Selection –Two groups of students. • Mortality –Student dropouts and transfers. • Selection-Maturation Interaction -Students vary in age and gender.

5. Threats to External Validity • Ecological Validity – Personal issues. • Generalizable Conditions – Teaching style, or learning style. • Pre-Test Treatment - Pre-testing prior to the treatment may affect test scores. • Selection-Treatment Interaction – Participants were not randomly selected from the population. • Specificity of Variables - Both teachers will use a scripted math program but teaching styles may vary. • Multiple Treatments - seating model over time could reduce effectiveness

6. Pretest and Posttest • Two Classes. • Six enVision Math Unit Tests: • Three Unit Tests prior to Class A seating change. • Three Unit Tests during Class A seating change.

7. Prior to Seating Change During Seating Change Proposed Data of Pretest and Posttest

8. Correlation between the students who feel distracted in cluster grouping and test scores. Survey Question 7: I get distracted by the people near me during math class. No correlation was found between students feeling distracted during math class and low test scores prior to the seating change. Correlation * Low positive correlation of +0.42 rxy

9. Proposed Data Analysis • The bar graph comparing Class A and Class B prior to the seating change shows that Class B outperforms class A when both rooms are arranged with cluster seating. • The bar graph comparing Class A and Class B during Class A’s seating change shows that Class A outperforms class B. • There is no correlation between a student feeling distracted due to cluster seating and academic performance. Conclusion: Regardless of how a student perceives his/her ability to concentrate, sitting in paired columns increases math test scores which is likely attributed to a greater ability to focus.

10. References O’Connor – Petruso, S.,(2008) Stat.scales.analyses.threats.design.ppt.