EDUCATIONAL PSYCHOLOGY

Chapter 11 page 225

Table 11.1 summarizes the pros and cons for each of the student desk arrangements shown in
Figure 11.2. Because there is no single best way, the best solution for teachers is to be open to a variety of
desk arrangements depending upon the task at hand and students’ learning needs. When students are
engaged in a week-long group project, teachers might group students’ desks in fours so that they can easily
work in groups, whereas teachers may want to switch to concentric U’s in weeks when they are holding
many extended class discussions.

Table 11.1: Advantages and disadvantages of different student desk arrangements

Arrangements
of desks

Advantages Disadvantages

Traditional
rows

Circulation. It is easy for teachers to

move around to any desk in the room.

Attention. Because all the students are

facing the teacher, it is easy for

students to look at the teacher when

she is talking. During individual

work, students may be less distracted

by their peers when they are not

sitting right next to them.

Teacher monitoring of students during

whole-class activities. Because

teachers can see all the students’

faces, they can more readily monitor

whether students are paying attention,

whether they are understanding, and

so on.

Collaboration. Students cannot easily work in

groups and have to move desks around in

order to work together. This means that

short group tasks cannot easily be

assigned (e.g., spending five minutes to

discuss a topic in groups before joining a

class discussion).

Discussions. Students cannot see each other

during group discussions. Students in the

back can often not hear students in the

front, who are facing forward toward the

teacher.

Epistemological implications. The

arrangement is most consistent with an

epistemology that makes the teacher the

authority, standing in front of the room

and “transmitting” knowledge to the class.