Crowding and Classroom Learning,

Abstract

The effects of density and other situational factors on perceptions of and responses to crowding in classroom learning environments was examined in three separate and concurrent investigations. Experiment I examined the effects of various demographic variables, learning environments, and room design variables on perceptions of ideal, crowded, and intolerable learning conditions. Results indicated that all subjects agreed on what constitutes an ideal learning environment while perceptions of crowded and intolerable learning conditions depended on the subject’s vocational perspective (e.g., teacher, student, administrator, etc.). Effects were also observed for type of learning environment as well as room design variables (noise level, ceiling height, and esthetic quality of the room). These latter effects, however, were weaker and conditional on sex of subject. In Experiment II, the effect of two levels of density on classroom achievement was examined in the laboratory. Two levels of motivation and three levels of learning environment were also manipulated. Results were consistent with a modified form of Zajonc’s (30) theory of social facilitation which treated both density and motivation as manipulations of arousal. That is, a curvilinear relation between density motivation conditions and achievement was obtained indicating moderate levels of density may benefit student achievement. Finally, Experiment III examined classroom achievement as a function of class size over a 24-year period in two community school districts. Results indicated that over the period studied, classroom density was always within the ideal perceptual ranges established by Experiment I. Furthermore, a strong positive relation between classroom density and schievement was obtained. These findings were highly consistent with the modified version of Zajonc’s theory since ideal conditions should produce low to moderate arousal which should in turn facilitate performance. Implications based on the pattern of results for all three experiments were discussed.

Notes

^1. This project was supported in part by Research Grant No. SMI76-08158, Student Originated Studies Program, National Sciene Foundation, awarded to the second author. Any opinions, findings, conclusions or recommendations expressed herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation. We gratefully acknowledge the assistance of Richard Miller for help with the statistical analyses done in Experiments I and II.

We would also like to acknowledge the help of the 71 anonymous participants, for without their remarkable and persistent cooperation this study would never have been possible.

^2. Portions of the results were presented at the August 1977 meeting of the American Psychological Association and at the NATO conference on Human Consequences of Crowding, Antalya, Turkey, November 1977. Requests for reprints should be sent to David E. Weldon, Department of Psychology, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130.