Antheridial
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Classroom Psychosocial Environment
Copyright © 2001
NISMED.
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The
Development and Validation of a Classroom Environment Scale for
Filipinos
|
Thelma
C. Rivera |
Mildred
F. Ganaden |
AbstractDescription
of the Learning Environment Scale (LES)
Construction
of the LESValidation
of the LESField
Testing of the LES
Reliability
of the LESThe
Factor Analysis
SummaryReferencesAppendices
Introduction
Few studies, if at all, have been done mainly on the learning environments in secondary schools in the Philippines. In this study, one classroom environment could be significantly different from the others and be most appropriate for encouraging positive attitudes toward chemistry. The dimensions of the chemistry classroom environment which make a difference are those which teachers may develop and change in order to improve their students' attitude toward chemistry and, possibly, the chemistry achievement of their students. Improving students' attitude toward a science like chemistry is a legitimate educational goal that has been recognized by educators for years.
The results of this study will have some practical application in the classrooms. The availability of the classroom environment instrument will make it possible for teachers to obtain convenient, reliable feedback information about the climate of their own classes as perceived by their students. This feedback information can be used by teachers as a basis for reflection upon, discussion of, and systematic attempts to improve classroom environments.
Science educators often talk about a classroom’s environment,
atmosphere or ambiance and consider it important in its own right and
influential in terms of student learning. Classroom environment is
somewhat a subtle concept, but how is it that over the past twenty-five
years, considerable interest has been shown internationally in the
conceptualization, measurement and investigation of perceptions of
psychosocial characteristics of the learning environment of classrooms
at the elementary, secondary and higher education levels by foreign
studies (Moos, 1979; Walberg, 1979; Chavez, 1984; Fraser, 1986, 1989,
1994; Fraser & Walberg, 1991; and MacAuly, 1990) and recently, by
local studies (Bermundo, 1992; and Brioso, 1997)? This shows clearly
what an active and important field of study classroom environment has
been. These publications, together with Fraser and Walberg’s (1981)
review focusing specifically on science education, indicates what a
sizable proportion of the past research work on classroom environment
has involved science classes, and a common feature of much of this
research is that classroom environment has been assessed in terms of
student perceptions of psychosocial dimensions.
Many questions of interest to teachers, educational researchers, curriculum developers and policy makers in science education can be asked about classroom environment. Does a classroom's environment affect student learning and attitudes? What is the impact of a new curriculum or teaching method on a classroom's environment? Can teachers conveniently assess the climates of their own classrooms and can they change these environments? What are some of the determinants of classroom environments? Is there a discrepancy between actual and preferred classroom environment as perceived by students, and does this discrepancy matter in terms of students outcomes? Do teachers and students perceive the same classroom environments similarly? These questions represent the thrust of the work on science education classroom environments during the past twenty-five years.
Since the late 1960s, educational researchers and evaluators have issued and published more than 200 reports concerning student perceptions of the psychosocial dimensions of their classroom group. Although much of the earlier work was carried out in the USA, a significant number of researches has been conducted in Canada, Australia and Israel; and a few key studies have been done in developing countries including India, Thailand, Brazil and Indonesia.
Classroom environment instruments have been used as sources of predictor and criterion variables in a variety of research studies conducted in elementary and secondary schools. Use of student perceptions of actual classroom environment as predictor variables in several different countries has established consistent relationships between the nature of the classroom environment and various cognitive and affective outcomes (see Haertel, Walberg & Haertel, 1981). For example, Fraser and Fisher's (1982) study involving 116 science classes in Australia established sizable associations between various inquiry skills and science-related attitudes and several classroom environment dimensions. Moreover, research involving a person-environment-fit perspective has shown that students achieve better when there is greater congruence between the actual classroom environment and that preferred by the students.
Studies involving the use of the actual form of classroom environment
scales as criterion variables have revealed that classroom psychosocial
climate varies between different types of schools (Trickett, 1978;
Hofstein, Gluzman, Ben-Zvi & Samuel, 1980;
Sharan & Yaakobi, 1981), and between coeducational and
single-sex schools (Trickett, Trickett, Castro, & Shaffner, 1982;
Richardson, 1990). Both researchers and teachers have found it useful to
employ classroom climate dimensions and process criteria of
effectiveness in curriculum evaluation because they have differentiated
revealingly between alternative curricula when student outcome measures
have shown little sensitivity (Fraser, 1981; Fraser, Williamson &
Tobin, 1986). Research in the USA (Moos, 1979), Australia (Fraser, 1982;
Fisher & Fraser, 1983), the Netherlands (Wubbels, Brekelmans &
Hooymayers, 1991) and Israel
(Raviv, Raviv & Reisel, 1990) compared students' and
teachers' perceptions and found that: first, students and teachers
preferred a more positive classroom environment than they perceived as
being actually present; and second, teachers tended to perceive the
classroom environment more positively than did their students in the
same classrooms. In promising small-scale practical applications,
teachers have used assessments of their students' perceptions of their
actual and preferred discrepancies, followed by a systematic attempt to
improve classrooms (Fraser & O'Brien, 1985; Fraser & Fraser,
1986).
Some of the exciting recent areas of classroom research involve the following: developing a new instrument for evaluating the degree to which a classroom is consistent with a constructivist epistemology (Taylor & Fraser, 1991); investigating the links between—and the joint influence of—classroom, school, family and other environments and students' outcomes (Moos, 1991); incorporating classroom environment as one factor in a multifactor model of educational productivity (Fraser, Walberg, Welch, & Hattie, 1987); exploring ways in which classroom environment instruments can be used to advantage by school psychologists (Burden & Fraser, 1991); incorporating learning environment ideas into teacher education (Fisher & Fraser, 1991); investigating changes in classroom environment during the transition from elementary to high school (Midgley, Eccles & Feldlaufer, 1991); and incorporating the evaluation of classroom environment in teacher assessment schemes (Heroman, Loup, Chauvin & Evans, 1991).
In contrast to the extensive work that has been done in developed countries, analogous classroom environment research has hardly began in developing countries. These investigations involved the transition and adaptation of English versions of some existing classroom environment scales and their use in investigating relationships between students' outcomes and their perceptions of the classroom environment.
There is an apparent lack of research mainly on classroom environments in the Philippines. Bermudo's (1992) study determined the classroom climate in three types of Catholic elementary schools (exclusive school for boys, exclusive school for girls, and coeducational school in Naga City as perceived by Grade V pupils and teachers). A set of questions was administered to 13 teachers and 556 pupils from these schools. The questionnaire consisted of 32 items on the six dimensions of classroom climate namely, Conformity, Responsibility, Standards, Rewards, Organizational Clarity, and Teacher Support. The results of the study showed that in the exclusive school for boys, both the teachers and the pupils perceived their classroom climate to be highly satisfactory. In the exclusive school for girls, the climate was perceived differently by the pupils and the teachers; it was satisfactory for the pupils while it was highly satisfactory for the teachers. The teachers and the pupils differed along the dimensions of Responsibility, Rewards and Team Spirit. On the other hand, both teachers and pupils in the coeducational school perceived their class climate as highly satisfactory.
Brioso's (1997) case studies on the dynamics of six biology classrooms
in Zamboanga City included the learning environment in its
characterization of biology classrooms in the Philippines. The
psychosocial environment of the biology classrooms was assessed in terms
of the students' responses to the short form of the Classroom
Environment Scale (CES). The CES (short form) is 24-item-True-False
instrument developed by Fraser (1986) consisting of four items assessing
each of six scales, namely, Involvement,
Affiliation, Teacher Support,
Task Orientation, Order and
Organization, and Rule Clarity.
The study revealed that on the whole, the students perceived the six
schools high in Rule Clarity
and Affiliation, but low in Involvement
and Teacher Support. It was also revealed that student participation is
passive.
De La Llana's (1978) study attempted to identify and describe aspects of the University of the Philippines college environment by using the student-perception-of-the-environment-approach. The study also compared how students with varying academic backgrounds perceived the various aspects of the college environment. These perceptions were responses to the College Environment Questionnaire (CEQ) items which refer to the descriptions of certain aspects of the College as perceived by the students to be the characteristic or not the characteristic of the College. The CEQ is an agree-disagree inventory consisting of 130 statements drawn from the College and University Environment Scale (CUES), Inventory of College Activities (ICA), Questionnaire on Student and College Characteristics (QSCC), and College Environment Scale (CES). The study demonstrated variability within an institution among selected categories of major field orientations: biological sciences, physical sciences, social sciences, arts and humanities, home economics, and education. Furthermore, it underscored the value of student opinion and attitudes in the analysis of school environments.
IntroductionDescription
of the Learning Environment Scale (LES)
Construction
of the LESValidation
of the LESField
Testing of the LES
Reliability
of the LESThe
Factor Analysis
SummaryReferencesAppendices