Article: four major sections:
- Introduction to ecological perspective
- Discussion of the types of settings found in classrooms and the program of actions that
define order for these contexts
o Consideration of the processes and strategies for managing classroom events
o An appraisal of the current status and future prospects for an ecological approach to
classroom management
An ecological approach
Habitat, the physical context with characteristic purposes, dimensions, features, and
processes that have consequences for the behavior of occupants in that setting
“behavior settings”
The nature of the classroom environment (vallen onder de dimensions, kun je onder elke dimensie
toepassen)
1. Multidimensionality – many tasks and events, crowded, different preferences and abilities,
social and personal objectives
2. Simultaneity – many things happen at once
3. Immediacy – rapid pace of classroom events, little leisure time before acting
4. Unpredictability – unexpected turns
5. Publicness – especially for the teacher
6. History – classes meet often and accumulate common set of experiences, routines etc
Order in classrooms
What does ‘order’ mean? (different views) – within acceptable limits the students are following the
program of action necessary for a particular classroom event to be realized in the situation.
26 How life in classrooms is organized (gedrag wordt beïnvloed door…)
1. Temporal boundaries (duration) – tijd
2. Physical milieu (shape, number and types of participants, props and objects, etc.)
3. Behavior format, program of action – taak, opdracht
4. Focal content, concern of the segment (studies) – inhoudelijke focus
Activities
Contexts as programs of action
- Recitation = calling on individual students to give (brief) answers to public questions
- Seatwork = supervised study, work independently
- Small groups and cooperative learning teams = positive effects on race relations and mutual
concern among students
- Transitions = points in social interaction when contexts change
Academic work as a program of action