THE SPATIAL DYNAMICS OF CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENTS

Abstract

Among the commercially packaged family games made extinct by modern tastes and interests was one which was called "Go to the Head of the Class." In this game the "head of the class" was not just a figurative designation of a place on a teacher's roster but an actual physical location in the classroom toward which good students aspired to go. Players of the game started at the rear of a classroom, shown on the playing board as having a traditional layout of row-and-column seating. Each player attempted to move an upright figure of a brightly smiling student to the number one seat at the extreme front of the classroom, closest to the teacher's desk. The moves toward the head of the class were accomplished when a player correctly answered questions taken in turn from a shuffled deck. As a result of applying this criterion for progress the winning player could claim to be the best student in the imaginary class. Considering the abundance of new family games with exciting plastic and electronic gimmickry now available, it is not surprising that such a plain old game as "Go to the Head of the Class" should disappear from the shelves of modem toy stores. What is surprising, however, is that the classroom seating arrangement shown on the game's playing board remains a pervasive feature of modern school environments. Surprise at the durability of traditional seating arrangements is not new. As early as the year 1900 the distinguished educator John Dewey was reported to be concerned with the arrangement of pupil seating. Dewey had commented that seats fixed in row-and-column arrangements were not compatible with the experimental outlook he espoused. Perhaps it could be argued that the prolonged continuance of any institution proves its value. However, much more is now known about the dynamics of class.