Creating the Environment
for Learning
A report by Stephen James Duran
What is a learning
environment?
A learning environment is more than just
a classroom—it’s a space in which
students feel safe and supported in their
pursuit of knowledge, as well as inspired
by their surroundings.
Instructors can also influence a learning
environment by the way they teach and
the atmosphere they create in the
classroom. They can help influence
student learning by encouraging student
engagement, providing positive and
constructive feedback that supports
exploration, community among peers, and
diversity.
According to:

Hattie (2009)
One of the most important influences on student achievement is the relationship
between the teacher and students.
Goodwin (2011)
describes teachers who create a conducive environment for learning as warm and
empathetic and establish a sense of community within the classroom where they
respect students and students respect them and one another. Essential in creating a
favorable learning atmosphere is a growth mindset where teachers' words and
actions make it clear that student achievement depends on hard work and effort
and is not cast in stone by past performance.

Dean et. al. (2012)

This motivates students to work harder. As students work harder, their feeling of self-
efficacy increases.

The first three instructional strategies when applied will lead to a positive learning
environment. They are:

1) setting objectives and providing feedback,

2) reinforcing effort and providing recognition and
3) cooperative learning.
 There are four recommendations for setting
objectives in the classroom:

• Set learning objectives that are specific but

not restrictive.

• Communicate the learning objectives to

students and parents.
Setting Objectives • Connect the learning objectives to previous
and future learning.

° Engage students in setting personal learning

objectives. Make them own the learning
objectives. This makes them self-directed
learners (Dean, et al, 2012).

• Provide feedback to make students

understand what was correct and what
was incorrect and to make clear what
students need to do next.

• Provide feedback in time to meet

students' needs.
Providing Feedback • Feedback should be criterion-
referenced. Feedback should make
students see their performance in relation
to the expected outcome or the learning
target and not in relation to the
classmates' performance.
 • Engage students in the feedback process (Dean, et al, 2012).
This way, they are made to reflect on their own performance and
exchange feedback with peers. This can help them become
lifelong learners.

What can reinforce student effort? Teach student

that success is within their control because it
comes as a result of their effort not because of
other people or of luck.

Reinforcing Effort “There is only one formula for success and that is
hard work.”
 • Promote a mastery-goal orientation. Teachers
should recognize effort in relation to learning
outcomes not to other students' performance. In
other words, the emphasis is on criterion-
referenced and not on norm-referenced
assessment.

Providing • Provide praise that is specific and aligned with

expected performance and behaviors. Great and
Recognition very good are quite general compared to
"Congratulations, you struggled with using a
microscope properly, but you asked questions
when you didn't understand, and now your efforts
are paying off:" Teachers must be generous with
genuine praise.

Cooperative Learning
Teachers are strongly encouraged to use cooperative learning to lay the foundation
for students' success' in a world that depends on collaboration and cooperation. In
the layers of a complex world, the students of today need to possess not only
intellectual capabilities but also the ability to function effectively in an environment
that requires working with others to accomplish a variety of tasks, claims Thomas
Friedman (2006), the author of the The World Is Flat.

Learning atmosphere is more favorable when students work together rather than
compete and work against one another.
For an effective cooperative learning, keep group size reasonably small.
 Elements of the Cooperative
Learning Model

INSTRUCTIONAL
ELEMENT PURPOSE
IMPLICATION
To ensure that success by an individual Establishes a cooperative goal structure and equally
Positive
promotes success among other group distribute resources; helps students develop a sense
Interdependence
members. that they "sink or swim" together.

Face-to-Face To encourage and activate individuals' Encourages discussion among group members and
Promotive efforts to achieve and help one another teach students about the importance of effort and
Interaction learn. how to provide others with recognition for their effort.
Establishes an optimal group size and include
To ensure that all members contribute to
Individual and Group individual assessments; helps students understand
achievement of the goal and learn as
Accountability that each person needs to contribute to the success
individuals.
of the group.
Provide initial and ongoing instruction on effective
Interpersonal and To ensure that all members clearly
group skills such as communication, decision making,
Small-Group Skills understand effective group skills.
conflict resolution, leadership and trust.
Establishes dedicated time for group reflection by
To promote group and individual
providing structures such as specific questions,
reflection for
Group Processing learning logs, or sentence stems that focus on how
maintenance of group effectiveness and
well the learner is functioning and how to function
success.
even better.
Thank you!