Running Head: IMPACTS ON STUDENT SEATING PLACEMENT 1

Impacts on Student Seating Placement: Improving Student Behavior and Learning

Potential

Breanna Malear

EDI 685-03

Grand Valley State University

IMPACTS ON STUDENT SEATING PLACEMENT 2

Impacts on Student Seating Placement: Improving Student Behavior and Learning

Potential

Imagine holding the secret formula to students seating placements that will solve

all your classroom management and student achievement issues. Unfortunately, there is

not a specific seating arrangement that will solve all of the problems. However, there is

plenty of research supporting different methods of arranging students in a way that will

provide academic and behavioral achievements among each student.

The Current Problem

Throughout the five months that I had been student assisting and beginning my

student teaching, I noticed that the students behavior and academic achievement was

slowly declining. Many of the students began socializing during work time, which led

them to not being able to complete their work. Before I knew it, come January multiple

students were missing their playtime every day to finish their work, whereas at the

beginning of the year it was only a couple of students on occasion. I became curious

whether or not changing the students seating chart would solve the problem of students

talking and not completing their work. It interested me in whether there was research

supporting the best seating practices to enhance students academic achievement and

behaviors.

Related Literature

To my surprise there was not a lot of research supporting placement of students in

the classroom. Current research looks at seating arrangement rather than where to seat

each student. However, I was able to find enough research to support seating plans for

small group seating arrangements.

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Creating a seating chart is an important component to classroom management

because classroom seating sets the tone for the classroom environment and student

relationships (Gremmen, Van Den Berg, Segers, & Cillessen, 2016). Teachers have the

role of structuring their classrooms in a way that will promote their students behavior

and academic achievement. Wannarka and Ruhls (2008) research demonstrates that

seating location correlates to a students academic achievement, on-task behavior, and

student-teacher interaction. Therefore, where a student sits in the class could have an

impact on their learning and behavior throughout the year. In order to create the desired

classroom environment where social interactions are effectively controlled to a point

where appropriate learning experiences are met, teachers need to examine different forms

of seating strategies (Fernandes, A.C., Huang, J., & Rinaldo, V., 2011).

Research discusses multiple strategies and factors that teachers consider when

making a seating chart. The five main strategies that were discussed in the research

articles I found included: front row seating, detonating friendships, mixing up genders,

removing temptations, and mixing learning abilities. Research has found that keeping

students closest to you that need the most watching will help to improve their behavior

because you will constantly have watch on them (Bennett, 2013). In addition, placing

students together that are at different ends of the spectrum whether it is in regards to

behavior and/or academics can have positives and negatives depending on the students

that are placed together. Good and bad behavior and learning habits can rub off on either

type of student, therefore, it is important to get to know your students personally before

mixing students at different ends of the behavior and/or academic spectrum (Bennett,

2013). There are many different seating placement strategies that have demonstrated
IMPACTS ON STUDENT SEATING PLACEMENT 4

success in the classroom setting, however, specific seating strategies are shown to have

greater success when referring to each students academic and behavioral achievements.

Reason for Research

The goal of my action research project was to study the effects of seating

placement among my kindergarteners. I was trying to improve the overall behavior and

academic achievement of my students during designated work times. Before I began my

study, I researched seating chart techniques that teachers and researchers have found to be

the most successful in elementary classrooms. With my main focus on improving

behavior and academic success, I focused on seating plans that pertained to improving

those two areas of concern. After researching multiple strategies teachers consider when

making seating charts, I narrowed it down to two different strategies that I thought would

show the most success among my students. I then used the strategies researched and my

background knowledge of my students to create two different seating charts that would

demonstrate a positive change in behavior and academic achievement within each of my

students. Each seating chart was studied for two weeks to accurately assess the students

change in behavior and academics.

Plan of Action

Before implementing my first seating chart I needed to gather data on the

students behavior and academic achievement at their current seats. I gathered data for a

week where I observed the students and recorded how many students did not complete

their work, how many students were talking during work time, and how many students

had to miss playtime. At the end of the week I gave the students a survey that gave them

the opportunity to assess their own behavior and academics regarding their current

seating placement.
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While I observed and gathered data on the students during their last week in their

existing seats, I began using research to construct my first seating chart. Having the

advantage of being with the students for four months during my student assisting and a

month of student teaching gave me the background knowledge of each student. My first

seating chart focused on keeping the struggling learners and behavior problem students

closest to my desk and my students that are typically on-task furthest from my desk. I

also made each table alternate girl-boy, consisting of two boys and two girls at each table.

Once I had made the finishing touches to my seating chart I informed the students that

they would be getting new seats. Each student was instructed to grab his or her red boxes

and sit on the classroom rug. I then walked around to each chair and stated the students

name that way they would know exactly where their new seat was.

Students remained in their new assigned seats for two weeks while I observed

their academic and behavioral performance. When I first told the students that we would

be changing seats they were all enthusiastic about the change. However, once they

learned where their new seat was the first work time period was silent. I observed all the

students and recognized the students that were not particularly comfortable with change.

I decided to record and observe data for two weeks because I wanted to allow enough

time to see once students stepped out of their comfort zone if that would affect my

research. As the first and second week of the first seating chart took way, I noticed less

students talking during work time and in turn led to more students finishing their work in

a timely manner. On the last day of the first seating chart, I gave the students the same

survey they took prior to the seat change. The survey gave the students the opportunity

to give their opinion to whether they get along with their table partners, if they got their

work done, if they had to miss playtime, if they listened on the carpet, and whether or not
IMPACTS ON STUDENT SEATING PLACEMENT 6

they got sent back to their seat while on the carpet. I had to make sure that the students

understood that they were only filling out the survey as it pertains to their current seating

placement, not the whole school year. After looking at the students responses and the

data I gathered the students were fairly honest.

After the first seating chart came to a close the second seating chart was

introduced and implemented on the following Monday. Identical to the first seating

chart, the second seating chart also lasted for two weeks. For the fact that there is a lot of

research on multiple seating chart strategies, I wanted to compare the results of different

strategies. The strategy that I focused on while making the second seating chart was by

placing the students in regards to their learning needs. In order to do this I focused on

putting students that are struggling with students that demonstrate academic achievement

on a daily basis. I wanted to see if placing students that learn and obtain information

differently than themselves would help to show improvements in learning. As I observed

and recorded data on the students behavior and academics during their second seating

plan, I noticed multiple students were talking during work time and a great deal of

students were not getting their work done on time. The students behaviors became more

disruptive than I had seen them throughout the entire year, which led to more students

missing playtime. At the end of the two weeks the students took the same survey based

on their second seating chart. Students survey responses and the data I gathered

resembled each other better than I would have assumed. Asking kindergarteners to

accurately access their behavior when they know they did not behave appropriately

allows for some error. However, I was impressed with how many of my students were

truthful about their behavior and display of learning.

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Once my research came to a close, I gathered all of my notes regarding my

observations and data collections to see what my evidence demonstrated. Along with my

own observations and data, I took into consideration how the students felt about each

seating arrangement. Collecting data in multiple forms gave me an overall accurate

interpretation of what seating chart strategy works best for my kindergarten students.

Findings and Suggestions

Before I implemented my seating plan research I gathered data on how the

students were behaving and performing at their current seats. I found that on average

about half of the students (~13 students) were not getting their work done during work

time and that each student averaged about two papers not getting completed. The

majority of the students not getting their work done was seated at the same tables and was

found talking to one another rather than getting their work done. In addition, an average

of 7 students were missing playtime on a daily basis due to behavior problems displayed

throughout the day.

The first new seating chart implemented, which focused on boy-girl alternating

arrangement and struggling learners and behavior problem students placed close to my

desk and the non-struggling, on-task students furthest from my desk. With this placement

the average students not getting their work done dropped to only three students not

completing their work during work time. Also, the average number of students missing

playtime due to behavior dropped by two students. Overall, placing students at tables

where gender was alternated for every seat and struggling students were placed closer to

the teachers desk showed major improvements on the students classroom behavior and

academic performance.
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The first week of the second new seating chart then occurred, focusing strictly on

the students learning needs by placing struggling learners with non-struggling learners. I

was surprised to discover that the number of students not getting their work done

increased from the first seating chart, with an average of eight students not getting their

work done in a timely manner. In addition, the number of students missing playtime

increased to an average of nine students. Placing the students strictly on their academics

did not show improvements to the students overall behaviors nor their academic

performance. At the end of my research I decided to go back to my first seating chart

where my students found the most success.

After completing my research on the best seating chart practices to enhance

student behavior and academic performance there are a few suggestions and further

research that I would want to implement. If I were to do my research again I would want

to employ the same strategies for multiple kindergarten classes and different grade levels

to portray if there is a seating chart strategy that seems to work best for every class or if

strategies tend to rely heavily on each group of students. I would also want to get

background knowledge of multiple teachers outlooks on creating a seating chart and

what types of strategies go through their minds while they are creating one for their

classroom. Although my class demonstrated that one seating chart strategy works best

for them, I am very interested in exploring further on what the best practices are for

creating a successful seating chart.

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Works Cited

Bennett, T. (2013). Behaviour- without a seating plan youre a sitting duck. The Times

Educational Supplement, (5071), 38. Retrieved from

http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/docview/1477902566?

accountid=39473

Fernandes, A. C., Huang, J., & Rinaldo, V. (2011). Does where a students sits really

matter?the impact of seating locations on student classroom learning.

International Journal of Applied Educational Students, 10(1), 66. Retrieved from

http://go.galegroup.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/ps/i.do?

p=AONE&u=lom_gvalleysu&id=GALE|

A256070886&v=2.1&it=r&sid=summon&authCount=1

Gremmen, M. C., van den Berg, YH. M., Segers, E., & Cillessen, AH. N. (2016).

Considerations for classroom seating arrangements and the role of teacher

characteristics and beliefs. Social Psychology of Education, 19(4), 749-774.

Retrieved from https://link-springer-

com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/article/10.1007%2Fs11218-016-9353-y

van den Berg, YH. M. & Cillessen, AH.N. (2015). Peer status and classroom seating

arrangements: A social relations analysis. Journal of Experimental Child

Psychology, 130, 19-34. Retrieved from

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.gvsu.edu/science/article/pii/S00220965140

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