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EFFECTS OF SELECTED ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF STUDENTS IN KINDERGARTEN AS MEASURED BY THE CLYMER BARRETT PRE-READING BATTERY

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Date Issued:
1980
Summary:
The Problem. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not an eye-pleasing, carpeted, well-lighted, thermally controlled physical environment would have a positive impact upon the productivity of kindergarten children at Fairlawn Elementary School during the 1978-79 academic year. Summary. As each kindergarten child entered school at Fairlawn Elementary the child was randomly assigned, while considering race and sex constraints, to one of the two following physical environments: Traditional environment--three classrooms constructed in 1949 in which the physical environment consists of asphalt tile floors, incandescent lighting, no means for control of the thermal environment other than heating, a color scheme consisting of brown and tan, and with an area of 739 square feet per classroom or 30 square feet per child. Non-traditional environment--four classrooms constructed in 1974 in which the physical environment consists of wall-to-wall carpeting, indirect fluorescent lighting, a system through which the thermal environment is controlled and maintained at 72(DEGREES)F (+ or - 2(DEGREES)F) and between 40 per cent and 60 percent relative humidity, a color scheme of blue, green, and yellow, and with an area of 1,225 square feet per classroom or 49 square feet per child. The productivity of the kindergarten students assigned to the two environments was determined by analyzing the pre-test and post test scores on the Clymer Barrett Pre-Reading Battery. The pre-test was administered in September of 1978 and the post test was administered in May of 1979. A review of the literature showed that many factors contributed to the productivity of students. Among the many factors was the physical environment of the classroom. Procedure. The null hypothesis that was tested was stated: H(DEGREES): There is no significant difference between the productivity of students in a traditional classroom environment and those in a non-traditional classroom environment. In testing the hypothesis dealing with productivity of students, an analysis of variance was utilized. An additional analysis was completed to determine if the difference was due to individual teacher difference or due to the physical environmental condition of the classroom. The design used for this experiment was a one-factor hierarchial design analysis of variance. Conclusions. (1) There was a significant difference at the .10 level of confidence between those students in the traditional environment and those students in the non-traditional environment. The obtained difference was not significant, however, at the .05 level of confidence. (2) There was no significant difference at the .10 level of confidence among the individual teachers within the two environments studied in terms of the mean gain per classroom.
Title: THE EFFECTS OF SELECTED ENVIRONMENTAL FACTORS ON THE PRODUCTIVITY OF STUDENTS IN KINDERGARTEN AS MEASURED BY THE CLYMER BARRETT PRE-READING BATTERY.
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Name(s): HILL, GEORGE ROBERT.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
MacKenzie, Donald G., Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1980
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 122 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: The Problem. The purpose of this study was to determine whether or not an eye-pleasing, carpeted, well-lighted, thermally controlled physical environment would have a positive impact upon the productivity of kindergarten children at Fairlawn Elementary School during the 1978-79 academic year. Summary. As each kindergarten child entered school at Fairlawn Elementary the child was randomly assigned, while considering race and sex constraints, to one of the two following physical environments: Traditional environment--three classrooms constructed in 1949 in which the physical environment consists of asphalt tile floors, incandescent lighting, no means for control of the thermal environment other than heating, a color scheme consisting of brown and tan, and with an area of 739 square feet per classroom or 30 square feet per child. Non-traditional environment--four classrooms constructed in 1974 in which the physical environment consists of wall-to-wall carpeting, indirect fluorescent lighting, a system through which the thermal environment is controlled and maintained at 72(DEGREES)F (+ or - 2(DEGREES)F) and between 40 per cent and 60 percent relative humidity, a color scheme of blue, green, and yellow, and with an area of 1,225 square feet per classroom or 49 square feet per child. The productivity of the kindergarten students assigned to the two environments was determined by analyzing the pre-test and post test scores on the Clymer Barrett Pre-Reading Battery. The pre-test was administered in September of 1978 and the post test was administered in May of 1979. A review of the literature showed that many factors contributed to the productivity of students. Among the many factors was the physical environment of the classroom. Procedure. The null hypothesis that was tested was stated: H(DEGREES): There is no significant difference between the productivity of students in a traditional classroom environment and those in a non-traditional classroom environment. In testing the hypothesis dealing with productivity of students, an analysis of variance was utilized. An additional analysis was completed to determine if the difference was due to individual teacher difference or due to the physical environmental condition of the classroom. The design used for this experiment was a one-factor hierarchial design analysis of variance. Conclusions. (1) There was a significant difference at the .10 level of confidence between those students in the traditional environment and those students in the non-traditional environment. The obtained difference was not significant, however, at the .05 level of confidence. (2) There was no significant difference at the .10 level of confidence among the individual teachers within the two environments studied in terms of the mean gain per classroom.
Identifier: 11758 (digitool), FADT11758 (IID), fau:8689 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Thesis (Educat.D.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1980.
College of Education
Subject(s): Kindergarten--Environmental aspects
Kindergarten facilities--Environmental aspects--Florida
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/11758
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.