Associations of Classroom Design and Classroom-Based Physical Activity with Behavioral and Emotional Engagement among Primary School Students

Jani Hartikainen,Eero A Haapala,Arja Sääkslahti,Taija Finni,Anna-Maija Poikkeus

doi:10.3390/su13148116

Jani Hartikainen, Eero A Haapala + Show 3 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/su13148116

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Abstract

Educational reforms worldwide have resulted in schools increasingly incorporating open and flexible classroom designs. Open learning spaces may contribute to a student’s behavioral and emotional school engagement directly and by facilitating classroom-based physical activity (CPA). We investigated the associations between accelerometer-assessed CPA and student ratings of task-focused behavior and attitude towards school as indicators for behavioral and emotional engagement, respectively, with the associations of gender, grade, and classroom design on CPA among 206 3rd and 5th grade students in open learning spaces and conventional classrooms. Structural equation modelling showed open classroom design to be directly associated with better attitude towards school (B = −0.336; CI95% −0.616 to −0.055), but not with task-focused behavior. The relationship between task-focused behavior and attitude towards school was statistically significant (B = 0.188; 95%CI 0.068 to 0.031). CPA was not associated with task-focused behavior and attitude towards school, while classroom design (B = 1.818; 95%CI 1.101 to 2.536), gender (B = 1.732; 95%CI 20 1.065 to 2.398), and grade (B = 1.560; 95%CI 0.893 to 2.227) were statistically significantly associated with CPA. Open learning spaces seem to be associated with better emotional engagement, which is associated with behavioral engagement. Longitudinal studies investigating associations of open learning spaces and CPA on students’ behavioral, emotional, and cognitive engagement concurrently are warranted.

Highlights

Classroom-based physical activity was not associated with task-focused behavior and attitude towards school, while classroom-based physical activity was associated with grade, gender, and classroom-type
Attitude towards school was associated with taskfocused behavior, which supports interrelatedness of these dimensions reflecting school engagement and motivation [5]. These findings suggest that classroom design itself does not have direct strong links with students’ task-focused behavior which may, be influenced indirectly via attitude toward school as behavioral and emotional engagement have been shown to be related bidirectionally [9]
The findings of the present study indicated that classroom type was associated with students’ emotional engagement, with students in open learning spaces reporting higher emotional engagement

Summary

Introduction

Based on educational reforms in countries worldwide, including for example Finland, the United Kingdom, Germany, and Spain, schools have increasingly begun to incorporate non-partitioned, open, and flexible designs and principles with an emphasis on fostering student autonomy, self-regulated learning, collaboration, and digital competences [1,2,3]. Students attending schools with open learning spaces are typically encouraged to collaborate with peers, engage in self-directed learning, and optimally are granted greater freedom of movement [1]. Working in open learning spaces typically implies re-distribution of roles and responsibilities towards working as a team sharing space and resources [1,2]. Working in open learning spaces may challenge teachers, as they need to balance between facilitating autonomous student learning, while managing shared spaces and resources in their pedagogical practice [1]

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