Final Reflection

The topic of inquiry is something that was quite new to me when I first started the course. This course helped me learn that teaching was not all about content. These little things that we can do in the classroom can have a big effect on the student's futures. For example, my inquiry project topic about classroom layout has a huge relationship with how the teacher controls a classroom. We also talked a bit about grades and assessment and how to be more open to standard based grading. This is a subject that I'm still on the fence with because I find grades to be more concrete and it was the way I was taught. That being said, it is still important to understand the pros and cons of each side and consider both opinions. This inquiry class definitely helped myself open up to different perspectives and to see the other sides. Even the visits to the Orchard Gardens was something new to me. I didn't think I would enjoy it, but it was actually a fun learning experience.

Inquiry Project Reflection

At first I thought that my inquiry question may have been a subject that was already studied many times. To be honest, I think it is quite a common topic, but there were still new things that I learned. For example, I didn't even think of how we should accommodate to students with physical or learning disabilities. It was something that seems obvious but often forgotten. Another thing that I learned while researching this topic was how much of an effect the teacher can have on student's peer relationships.

When preparing my activity for the class, I was kind of lost on what I should do. I ended up deciding on having the class in 2 different layouts, and asking general 'inquiry' questions. I had a bit of conflict with myself on whether or not I wanted to include questions related to our subject matter, or just some silly questions that I found. I ended up going with the silly questions, and it worked out great. It generated a ton of discussion across tables that I almost didn't want to interrupt. I'm glad that our class has people with such strong opinions because it definitely helped.

I still have more to learn and research about this topic. There was a subtopic that I didn't delve into too much, which was if gender of the teacher matters in the layout. Although this topic of class layout has been researched quite well, it has a strong value for our knowledge as teachers.

Inquiry Project Slides

Slides

The slides are almost prepared fully, just finishing up the small details!

Annotated Bibliography

1. Peer status and classroom seating arrangements: A social relations analysis
Author links open overlay panel

Yvonne H.M.van den BergAntonius H.N.Cillessen
Author links open overlay panelvan den Berg, Y. H., & Cillessen, A. H. (2015). Peer status and classroom seating arrangements: A social relations analysis. Journal of experimental child psychology, 130, 19-34.

Research study based on how physical distance relates to peer relationships (popularity).

2. Considerations for classroom seating arrangements and the role of teacher characteristics and beliefs
Gremmen, M.C., van den Berg, Y.H.M., Segers, E. et al. Soc Psychol Educ (2016) 19: 749.

This study surveys 50 teachers and asks them questions of why they have a certain seating arrangement. What were their reasons or beliefs? They consider an interesting topic of whether or not gender of teacher matters.

3. Effects of Classroom Seating Arrangements on Children's question-asking
Marx, A., Fuhrer, U. & Hartig, T. Learning Environments Research (1999) 2: 249.

This study focuses more on how seating arrangements may affect student's questions-asking in class.

4. The Impact of Seating Location and Seating Type on Student Performance
Meeks, M., Knotts, T., James, K., Williams, F., Vassar, J., & Wren, A. (2013). The impact of seating location and seating type on student performance. Education Sciences, 3(4), 375-386.

10 year study based on whether sitting at the front of class or back of class matters, they found that it does not matter.

5. Classroom segregation: where do students sit and how is this related to group relations?
McKeown, S., Stringer, M., & Cairns, E. (2016). Classroom segregation: where do students sit and how is this related to group relations?. British Educational Research Journal, 42(1), 40-55.

This article focuses on classroom dynamics, specifically ethnic/racial backgrounds. Speaks about how seating plans might hinder natural friendship forming.

6. Does Where A Student Sits Really Matter? - The Impact of Seating Locations on Student Classroom Learning
Fernandes, A. C., Huang, J., & Rinaldo, V. (2011). Does Where A Student Sits Really Matter?-The Impact of Seating Locations on Student Classroom Learning. International Journal of Applied Educational Studies, 10(1).

This article delves deep into how seating locations may affect student-student relationships, and also student-teacher relationships. They also touch on back/front aspects of class. They explore how different cultures/countries may have different views on seating arrangements.

7. https://helpfulprofessor.com/classroom-layouts/

Website with a list of 12 different classroom layouts. Provides pros and cons of each, and ideal situations/activities for each layout.

8. https://qz.com/1349508/the-psychology-behind-why-you-always-want-to-sit-in-the-same-seat/

Does sitting in the same seat through the semester/year matter? Is it more helpful? This article explores whether or not this is true. Investigates whether this is a territorial psychological aspect of human nature.

These articles/websites helped give me a wide perspective and the many reasons behind seating plans. They helped me consider reasons that teachers had, but they also opened my mind to how this might affect students on a deeper level. Should we let students be more independent and let them form their own relationships? Should teachers be 'playing god'? Does sitting at the front of the class REALLY matter? Overall, I'm glad that there is so much out there that I have not thought about, very interesting!

Creativity in Science

"If no one followed up on original ideas, we would be buried in fresh starts going nowhere." Often in many cases during our studies here at UBC or from personal experience in practicum, we are told that we "don't need to reinvent the wheel". I do understand that we should utilize resources that are already well known, but in order to learn and adapt, we have to think outside the box sometimes. But that makes me think, if everyone is always striving for uniqueness or creativity, are they doing it to learn? Or just for the sake of finding something new that nobody else has?

"When you do not know anything about bird songs, you seldom hear them. But once you begin to learn about them, you suddenly hear birds where there was silence before." Just a personal anecdote that I have that's kind of unrelated to inquiry, I noticed this 'phenomena' when I was shopping for cars. I was looking for a specific car on craigslist and I started to see them on the road a lot more. Was it because I didn't notice before, or was it because I was now actively looking for them? This happens quite a lot in science when people are making observations. During their observations, they are ONLY looking to prove their hypothesis or see a specific result, and ignore anything else that may occur, a bit like selection bias.

"If I take my fledgling idea to an expert, he or she will explain that this is an instance of X, where X is an already established category." This quote from the article is something that I don't quite agree with. I may be interpreting it wrong, but it seems like Bavelas is saying talking to an expert is a negative thing regarding creativity. I feel that talking to an expert can really help give you a different perspective. They would be able to tell you if you're searching in the right direction. If you don't quite believe them and you feel strongly about your topic, then by all means continue your research. Personally I highly value the opinion of an expert, but I do understand how this could be a bad thing regarding creativity. 

Inquiry Project

The way that teachers have different classroom layouts always piqued my interest. I always wondered if there was a specific reasoning why they chose a particular layout, or if it was unintentional. In many of my courses we have talked about how to make group work effective. Topics such as Zone of Proximal Development have come up of how we should pair students based on their skills. Initially I was on board with this idea of pairing stronger students with weaker students, but after a particular school visit my opinion has shifted to undecided. The teacher had a completely randomized seating plan for each class. He labelled the tables and when students came in, we would tell them which table they were assigned to. His reasoning behind this was so that students would not judge each other based on their skill level. I do believe in the ZPD, but I don't feel like students should feel superior/inferior to others. Hopefully this topic will not be too broad and I will be able to find specific research.

"Class layout, do seating plans really matter?"

Exit Slip for Oct 17th

I think percentages may be better and more accurate than assigning letter grades. The stress that comes from the difference between a B+ and A- is much worse compared to an 83 to 86 percent. The problem with this is that we can't assign a percentage to everything. Students may vary in different areas of knowledge. For example, one student may be better at solving questions on paper, but another student may be better at explaining it in words. Both students could be very knowledgeable, but it would be easier to assign a percentage for the first student. Percentages may not be the best and most accurate, but it is somewhat an acceptable baseline of measure for knowledge.