Assessment and Effect of Some Classroom Environment Variables

Abstract

there might be in an otherwise chaotic universe. Walberg (1970) stated that much of the reliable variance in student performance is attributable to the aptitude of the learner and the environment of learning, leaving only a small part to be accounted for by instructional variables and perhaps by interactions between the three factors. Research on the teaching-learning process should provide for analyses of aptitude and environment and their interactions with instruction. Such research would have several advantages: (a) it would allow a determination of the relative effects of design factors, (b) it would permit an investigation of the interactions of the factors. In view of the importance of environment as a manipulable factor in learning, the locus of interest in educational measurement is beginning to shift from measures of the individual to measures of the environment. Although individual measures have been effectively used as predictors and as criteria, and for selection and placement, environmental assessments may make it possible (a) to improve the accuracy of predicting learning, and (b) to manipulate the environment to bring about optimal conditions of learning (Walberg, 1969b). Which classroom variables promote effective learning experiences for pupils? How do educators manipulate these variables to produce optimum conditions for learning? Some variables should be specified and examined as follows: