Ecological Approaches to Classroom Management

Ecological Approaches to Classroom Management

Walter DoyleUniversity of Arizona

Four Sections of the ArticleFour Sections of the Article

Introduction to the ecological perspective

Types of settings found in classrooms and program of actions that define order for these contexts

Consideration of processes and strategies for managing classroom events

Appraisal of current status and future prospects for an ecological approach

IntroductionIntroduction

The central idea surrounding the ecological approach is habitat, the physical niche or context with characteristic purposes, dimensions, features and processes that consequence

The ecological perspective emerged in the 1960s from Kounin and Gump

Nature of the ClassroomNature of the Classroom

Multidimensionality is a large quantity of events and tasks that take place in a classroom

Simultaneity is when many things happen at once in the classroom

Immediacy is a rapid pace of classroom events

Unpredictability in classroom events often take unexpected turns

Nature of the Classroom (con’t)Nature of the Classroom (con’t)

Publicness in classrooms are public places and events, especially those involving the teacher, that are often witnessed by a large portion of the students

History is when classes meet for 5 days a week for several months• There is a common set of experiences, routines and

norms which provide a foundation for conducting activities for the rest of the term or year

Classroom ManagementClassroom Management

Order in the classroom is about how order is established and maintained in classroom environments

• Order in the classroom does not necessarily mean passivity, absolute silence or rigid conformity to rules

• Within acceptable limits, the students are following the program of action for a particular event

Classroom Management (con’t)Classroom Management (con’t)

Classroom management is the actions and strategies used to solve the problem of order in the classroom

Misbehavior is any action by one or more students that:

• Threatens to disrupt the activity flow

• Pulls the class toward a program of action that threatens the safety of the group

• Violates norms of appropriate classroom behavior held by the teacher, the students or the school staff

How Life is Organized in the ClassroomHow Life is Organized in the Classroom

A classroom is a behavior setting, an ecobehavioral unit composed of segments that surround and regulate behavior

The basic unit for classroom organization is the activity

Activities with different labels often have quite similar formats

How Life is Organized in the Classroom - InvolvementHow Life is Organized in the Classroom - Involvement Work involvement or engagement is the most widely

used student behavior• Involvement is used to label student behavior that reflects

active engagement in working

• Noninvolvement or off-task behavior often includes passive withdrawal, mild forms of inappropriate behavior and more serious forms of misbehavior

Involvement was:• Highest for students in teacher-led

• Lowest for pupil presentations

Whole class recitations was higher than independent seatwork

How Life is Organized in the Classroom - TimeHow Life is Organized in the Classroom - Time Contexts as programs of action as order

is defined by the programs of action embedded in the classroom

Time

• Does not just pass in the classroom

• It is a rhythmic movement toward accomplishing an academic and/or social goal

How Life is Organized in the Classroom - Programs of ActionHow Life is Organized in the Classroom - Programs of Action Recitation requires calling on individual

students to give brief answers to public questions before the rest of the class

Seatwork is “supervised study” during which all students are assigned to work independently at their desks

Small groups and cooperative learning teams study together

Transitions are points in social interaction when contexts change

How Life is Organized in the Classroom - PacingHow Life is Organized in the Classroom - Pacing Pacing, Signal Systems and Involvements

• Involvement is higher in students who are externally paced (tests, recitation) than a student who is self paced

• An emphasis is placed on the activity flow and the pacing of the lesson

How Life is Organized in the Classroom – Signal SystemsHow Life is Organized in the Classroom – Signal Systems Continuity: the flow of information or signals to

the individual participant

• Lessons high in this are teacher presentations

• Lessons low in this are group discussions, projects, and role playing

Insulation: degree to which the individual student is isolated from signals for inappropriate behavior

• Lessons high in this have low off-task rate

• Lessons low in this are music and movement

How Order is Achieved in the Classroom – Physical Design of SettingsHow Order is Achieved in the Classroom – Physical Design of Settings The physical designs of settings is the

compatibility between the program of action in an activity and the physical aspects of the setting

Classroom design and furniture arrangement have little effect on achievement but some effect on attitudes and conduct

How Order is Achieved in the Classroom – Establishing Rules and ProceduresHow Order is Achieved in the Classroom – Establishing Rules and Procedures Rules are intended to regulate forms of

individual conduct that can disrupt activities

Teachers integrate their rules and procedures into a workable system and deliberately teach this system to their students

Effective managers monitored classes closely and stopped inappropriate behavior promptly

How Order is Achieved in the Classroom – Misbehavior and InterventionsHow Order is Achieved in the Classroom – Misbehavior and Interventions Misbehavior is any behavior by one or

more students that is perceived by the teacher to initiate a vector of action that competes with or threatens the primary vector of action at a particular moment in a classroom activity

Most misbehavior is related to attention, crowd control and getting work accomplished in classrooms

How Order is Achieved in the Classroom – Misbehavior and Interventions (con’t)How Order is Achieved in the Classroom – Misbehavior and Interventions (con’t) High-ability students are likely to engage

in misbehavior towards the end of an activity. In contrast lower ability students misbehave during the activity

Interventions can repair temporary disturbances in classroom order

Interventions are, by their very nature, reactive

Conclusions and Future ResearchConclusions and Future Research

Classroom management is fundamentally a process of solving the problem of order rather than the problem of disruption or misbehavior

An emphasis on program of action in the classroom is embedded in the activities teachers and students enact together as they accomplish work

Conclusions and Future Research (cont’d)Conclusions and Future Research (cont’d)

Order in classrooms is context specific and held in place by balancing a large array of forces and processes

Order is a permanent pressure on classroom life and a teacher continuously faces the need to monitor and protect the programs of action in class

Successful classroom management involves understanding the configuration of events in the classroom and skill in monitoring and guiding activities

Conclusions and Future Research (cont’d)Conclusions and Future Research (cont’d)

Little has been changed in the past two decades There is a general decline in classroom

management research A challenge is to push the ecological approach

toward a framework that integrates habitat, curriculum, action and cognition into a unified conception

Activity theory is a new framework which seems to hold promise for advancing work on an integrated conceptualization for classroom studies through goal-directed, tool-mediated, intersubjective and self-regulated actions