Erika Williams

Erika Williams

Psychology 100

9/12/10

It often seems like the people who sit in the front of classrooms seem to do best in the class. But it that true? Wondering the same thing, Jeffrey Burda and Charles Brooks (1996) decided to conduct an experiment to find out. But, they did not just want to know if students did better, they also wanted to know why students chose to sit in the front, what is their motivation? This is relevant to class because it is part of what is going to be talked about in chapter nine (Motivation and Emotions).

Before research can be conducted, the scientists(s) must come up with a hypothesis. Burda and Brooks (1996) concluded that there were two possible reasons that students sit in the front of the classroom: students that are achievement-oriented and with good self-esteem chose to sit in the front because of their personality, or, students’ self-esteem and achievement motivation grows because they sit in the front rows. Burda and Brooks (1996) hypothesized that the first option, students’ whose motivation and self-esteem was already high chose to sit in the front of the room because of their personalities.

The method chosen to conduct the experiment was simple: eighty-nine students at King’s College, in freshman only classes, were asked to complete the achievement motivation scale. The NachNaff scale was distributed during the second or third week of class to all eighty-nine students; and by that time, the students were sitting in the same seats in their classes. Burda and Brooks (1996) had the questionnaires “…coded according to seating row, and the instructors were told to make sure that students in each row were given the appropriately labeled questionnaire”. The students who agreed to partake in the research also had to sign a consent form, saying that they knew that they were part of a study. During the last three weeks of the semester, the questionnaire was passed out, and taken again. The names were matched with the student’s previous test, and verified that they were sitting in the same row (Burda and Brooks 1996). Only eighty students partook in the retest; three had dropped the course, and the rest of the students were absent on the day of the retest. Nobody was sitting in a different row.

The data is most easy to understand in a table, (Burda and Brooks, 1996):

Means and Standard Deviations of Achievement Motivation Scores for Students Sitting in the Front, Middle, and Back Thirds of the Classroom, Measured Early and Late in the Semester
Row in Classroom / Test 1, n=89 / Test 2, n=80
______/ M / SD / M / SD
1-2 / 12.30 / 5.00 / 14.18 / 5.88
3-4 / 8.67 / 6.76 / 10.69 / 6.44
5-6 / 8.95 / 4.63 / 9.65 / 6.46

**Rows beyond the sixth were included in the five to six group (Burda and Brooks, 1996).

It is clear in the graph that the first three rows of students had the highest scores, while those students in the back rows had the lowest scores. The middle group of students was mostly equal with the back rows of pupils. But they all improved, statistically, equally over the course of the semester.

The results show that the scholars in the front of the classroom did in fact score higher on an achievement motivation test than those in the back of the room. But, it was also found that they progressed equally, showing that, “The positive influences of the course and possibly other aspects of the initial college experience for the students tested were not influenced by where they sat in the classroom” (Burda and Brooks, 1996). That finding proved Burda and Brooks’ (1996) hypothesis to be correct; prior personal temperaments are what lead pupils to choose where they sat in class.

I have personally found that I do, in fact, do better in a class when I sit in the front rows. I talk less, and I pay better attention. I believe that the students who were sitting in the front of the class in the study realized that they, as well, did better when they were sitting closer to their professor. I believe that this topic is important because it is about motivation. Those students who want to do well in class tend to be more motivated to sit in the front of the classroom; at least, that is how I took the results. When we get to chapter nine, we will be talking about motivation, and this study could be very important for many college students, especially freshman who wish to do well. Maybe, if they knew what sitting in the front of the class could do for them, they would have more motivation to do so.

References

Burda, J. M., & Brooks, C. I. (1996). COLLEGE CLASSROOM SEATING POSITION AND CHANGES IN ACHIEVEMENT MOTIVATION OVER A SEMESTER. [Editorial]. Psychological Reports, Feb.-June 1996, 331-336.