Post Occupancy Evaluation

Evaluation 1:

Research Team: Jennifer Hyde & James Rice, North Carolina State University, Advisor: Henry Sanoff

Background

The research team for gathering information about Davidson Elementary School used three methods: personal interviews, surveys, and observations. The methods were used independently and collectively to gain a better understanding of the behavioral issues effected by the physical environment.

Initially, the architect was interviewed to obtain his insights regarding the planning and design of the facility. He also provided basic information including plans and specifications used to familiarize the team with the school. Afterwards, the team, guided by the principal and two teachers, took a tour of the building during school hours. This served the following purposes: familiarizing the research tem with the school, observing it while in use, and photographing the facilities. While touring the building, the team interviewed the teachers to begin to assess what they felt were its positive and negative features. It was useful to have the guides provide information while on a walk through of the building to allow the team to observe actual conditions relative to their comments.

The second method for gathering information was the use of surveys. Two surveys were created one for the students and one for the teachers. It was important to obtain their perspective about the building’s performance and, more importantly, to gain information about actual use of the classroom and adjacent spaces. Thirty teachers and sixty students were sampled at Davidson Elementary School:

            Twenty-fourth grade students and their teacher

            Twenty-fifth grade students and their teacher

            Twenty-sixth grade students and their teacher

            Eleven additional teachers

The younger grades, k-3, were included because the survey as written may have been beyond their comprehension. It was more effective to observe the younger grades within the classroom. Both surveys attempted to ascertain how the classroom, and supporting facilities, contributes to the learning process. To achieve this, questions were asked to help differentiate between the influence of the teacher and that of the physical classroom. For example, it was important to know if students felt they had a place the “belonged to them” and if they were able to personalize it. If not, was it due to the teacher’s policy, the school’s policy, or the unavailability of space.

The majority of the observation effort was focused on the classroom and adjacent areas. The research team, as recognized outsiders, observed eight classes for an average of one hour each. Because the surveys addressed the upper grades, the team intentionally focused the observation efforts on the lower grades. Additionally, building plans were used to supplement the classroom observations, so that notes could be made about adjacent and support areas. Plans of the classrooms were used to document the arrangement of furnishings, the location of students and teacher, and to make behavioral observations. Since the study revolves around the relationship between the students, and between the students and teacher, these observations were crucial.

If a question was worded improperly, or has a different meaning to the respondents, the answer could be misleading and taint the findings. Therefore, multiple methods of data collection in research are necessary to validate the accuracy of results. In this case, the information collected through the observations was used to supplement the data provided by the surveys. In reviewing and comparing the data from the surveys, the observations were useful in verifying ambiguous answers and resolving conflicts in the results that occurred between the different sample groups surveyed.

Results

Through the surveys and observations, it was noted that students were overall satisfied with their school building and felt it a definite improvement over their pervious situation. The most reoccurring result was with some basic differences in the way older and younger children viewed and used the classroom. With older children the class organization was more structured, the curriculum more defined, and discipline more strenuous. This observation directs us to teacher control and administrative mandate for many of the differences in age groups. One such difference was the frequency of which the classroom arrangement changed. This indicates a defined program with little variation needed for differing activities or a teacher that feels change in the classroom environment is disruptive or not worth the effort. The younger classes made much better use of their space with defined activity areas and versatile seating arrangement. Often, the older aged classes were arranged in the traditional layout with the students all directed to one activity at any given time, usually the board where the teacher lecturers. The classroom as a rectangular form is oriented with the short axis containing the fenestration. This arrangement would work to discourage the typical “student rows facing teacher” layout. The layout was oriented with the openings in the long axis of the room.

As previously mentioned, the teacher’s outlook on the classroom and attitude toward the curriculum will influence the atmosphere of the environment. The responsibility of arranging the classroom is given to the teachers, and it was found that overwhelmingly they assign student seating. The students stated that they were not involved in the arrangement of their classroom nor were they allowed their choice of seating. Also, the students expressed that the display of student work was controlled by the teacher with little or no student initiated display, especially as individuals. As a whole, the results point to a very controlled and disciplinary environment within the classroom; however, the teachers felt it important to provide a variety of work spaces for the children and expressed conscious effort to have the children working in groups. This is one area where the results do not seem to coincide between students’ and teachers’ perspectives.

While within the described environment, the students felt that the classroom were both pleasant to look at and neatly arranged. There was agreement that the classrooms have lots of comfortable places to work or rest. When asked where in the building they prefer for rest, the students choose soft, defined areas within the classroom. This could be attributed to their connection tot their individual classrooms or to the amount of time spent in the space each day. Since the students do spend most of their time at their desks, it is concluded that the majority of the day is spent within their classroom. The observations support this fact with classes seen leaving the classroom for recess and lunch in the morning hours.

Many behavioral and satisfaction determining factors are directly related tot the size of the classroom and to the number of students within the class. As numbers increase, overcrowding increases resulting in difficulty concentrating on individual and group work. With children in general, noise levels increase as the numbers increase thus adding to the disruption of activities and concentration. Also, as the numbers increase, the likelihood that individual students feel they have a special place in the classroom decreases drastically. However, the students do identify good places to work within the classroom.

Based on the results of the surveys, the teachers overall noted that they were very satisfied with the general school building. Almost half of them felt it was “excellent”, while the remaining teachers responded that it was “good”. In reference to the classrooms, over half of them believed these spaces were “excellent”, about one third agreed they were “good”, and the rest of the teachers marked them as “fair”. These results are probably due to the fact that the teachers spend the majority of their time in the classroom and are more familiar with the strengths and weaknesses of these areas. Therefore, they may tend to be more critical of their classroom, as opposed to the overall building. Based on initial observations, interviews, and the format of the survey, the results obtained have been broken down based on the use of individual, small group, and large group spaces.

Two of the most important teaching objectives for individual students were the development of self-esteem and responsibility. Although, according to the teachers, there are not enough areas to support individual activities, such as small nooks, recesses, or study carols. Also, the classrooms are too small to allow all of the students to engage in individual activities at the same time. Based on the research teams observations, this is probably due more to overcrowding, than to the size of the classroom. When engaged in independent activities, teachers allow students to have the most freedom of movement around the classroom and building, thus encouraging responsibility. The Media Center and enlarged hallway adjacent tot he classroom were cited most often as places for individual work. Typically, the Media Center is used for “research” and individual study, while the hallway area is used as an extension of the classroom for reading and tutoring sessions.

Individual personalization occurs through the use of name tags and desk identification. Also, bulletin boards within and immediately adjacent to the classroom are used to acknowledge student achievement and to promote group and territoriality of the classroom.

Teamwork and cooperation, along with learning basic skills such as reading, math, and science, were listed as the most important teaching objectives. To achieve this, teachers frequently plan activities around group work. Normally, it is a less supervised activity, and students are free to move around the classroom in order to work efficiently. This is especially true when teachers utilize activity centers as a method for group learning. These methods are physically supported by the classroom, which allows easy rearrangement of the space to suite group activities. The enlarged hallway is used by various sized groups but typically, teachers choose to use it for small group work.

Almost all of the teachers say they encourage personalization of the classroom and surrounding areas. Based on the research teams observations, this is true, as most of the wall area is covered by artwork, projects, and posters. This provides the students with a sense of ownership to their space and defines class territory when it occurs in more public areas adjacent to the classroom.

When describing ways in which the classroom supports or inhibits their teaching methods, teachers listed the group work areas as most beneficial. Following this amenity, they felt that the classrooms were easy to arrange, provided clear views for monitoring students, and appreciated the carpeted floors for informal activities. On the other hand, they complained about the acoustics, usually attributed to the noisiness of the HVAC system, and overcrowding with in the classroom. Additionally, they shared work areas for teachers between the classrooms was noted as being used for purposes other than as teachers offices. Some said they liked it because t offered privacy when calling parents, yet many use this space for storage. The research team noted that many teachers utilized “satellite desks” within the classroom in order to monitor the students at all times.

Conclusions

Throughout the study, it has been evident that the teachers, students and staff are genuinely thrilled with their new environment. They appreciate the newness of the school and especially the spaciousness. This is obvious in their responses to the most liked and least liked aspects of the building and classrooms. The most like features consisted of large major spaces and opportunities within the general building and classroom, such as the gallery, the courtyard or the abundance of light in the classrooms. When responding to the least liked aspect of the school many replied with smaller concerns such as the muddy fields, television positioning, and the cabinet placement. All responses were taken into account and overall the biding was given a good rating when considering the participation of various age groups and teachers’ levels. The classes that were surveyed represented a range of class sizes from 21 to 29 students per class. As the number of students increased within the class, the overall satisfaction with the majority of the areas within the classroom and general building began to decrease. The class with the fewest students was much more satisfied with their classroom and felt more connected to the spaces. The number of the students for maximum utilization of their classroom would be around 20 students per class. Also, as the number increased the teachers exhibited more control and discipline over their students.

Although behavioral control is exhibited by the teachers, self-esteem development and personal responsibility were stressed as objectives for most age levels, especially the older children. The development of these objectives certainly does not dictate or suggest a controlled environment. Another topic related to teacher control was the student’s efforts to escape teacher supervision in the free activity areas such as the cafeteria and outdoor recess time. Here, it is particularly difficult for the teacher to monitor her children. But in the classroom, teacher visual access to all areas was not a problem. The necessity of this visual access was overlooked when planning the office/workspace between two classes. Even with a window to the class, the office limits the teacher’s involvement with the students.

Differences existed in the use of the classroom by various grade levels which, could be correlated with the extent of control exhibited by the teacher and the ages of his/her students. As the grades increased the classroom became increasingly more structured and singularly focused. This could be the result of the state mandated curriculum which was listed as a teaching objective in several instances or to the type of activities that occur in the space. However, the classroom is not of the typical proportion to support the traditional rectangular classroom arrangement; yet, the teachers seem to impose this configuration of seating on the space and students. This did not seem to be supportive of their major objectives of teamwork and cooperation. For these two ideals to be learned, an environment should be arranged to support various sized groups and individuals simultaneously. Since the classrooms are not rearranged frequently, it should be safe to assume that the curriculum is fairly constant. If the curriculum changes throughout the learning objectives underlying that curriculum.

As the differences in classroom atmosphere were obvious through observation, the use of the enlarged hallway areas also revealed some differences with age groups. The hallway space was most used for small reading groups. Some lower grade wings had set up activity zones in the hallway space for small groups and individuals, while more advanced grades seemed to utilize the area as predominately tutorial or conference space. The younger classes personalized their areas far more than did the older classes, this could be due to the nature of their work or to the connection the class has established to the area. A demarcation of territory or a personalization e3ffort can be observed by the different class groups. Some teachers utilized the area as a continuation of their classroom learning environment while others used the privilege of hallway activity as a reward system.

POE Evaluation 2 >