Preschool Behavior Project


Early Childhood Behavior Project	Environmental Arrangement

Skip navigation	Environmental arrangement is a procedure which involves systematically organizing aspects of the early childhood classroom, including physical features, schedules, transitions, staffing patterns, and instruction. Principles of environmental arrangement are derived from evidence that classroom ecology can affect child behavior (Dunst, McWilliam, & Holbert, 1986). A well organized environment tends to increase the probability that appropriate behaviors will occur. What is the purpose of environmental arrangement? A child's engagement with the environment appears to be a primary source of early learning and development (LeLaurin & Risley, 1972). Unfortunately, learning is compromised for all children when behavior problems occur which disrupt engagement in classroom activities. When individual behavior problems are seen as possible symptoms of a poorly organized classroom, reorganizing the environment may prevent behavior problems. For example, a teacher notices that several children are disrupting storytime by poking at each other. One way to address this is to have the children sit on carpet squares which are placed more than an arm's reach apart. It is likely that children will keep their hands to themselves and listen attentively. Effective environmental arrangement strategies are those which result in positive changes in behavioral, communicative, cognitive, social-emotional, and adaptive skills. What aspects of the environment must be considered? The aspects of the classroom environment found to influence different elements of child functioning include physical aspects, instructional aspects, and organizational aspects. These environmental aspects interact with each other to influence child behavior and learning. Physical Aspects The physical aspects of the early childhood classroom include the materials (toys, books, supplies, etc.), and arrangement of these materials, that are used to facilitate learning and development of skills. The physical environment can provide organization and structure which will maximize learning opportunities for children in the classroom. The physical layout also provides a variable to manipulate in an effort to prevent and respond to challenging behaviors which serve to interrupt the learning process (Zirpoli, 1995). The issues that should be addressed when arranging the physical aspects of the environment include (a) selecting activity areas, (b) determining the location of activity areas within the classroom, and (c) promoting participation with the materials within activity areas. Instructional Aspects The issues that should be addressed when arranging the instructional aspects of the classroom include (a) instructional contexts, and (b) group size. Instructional contexts can include both formal and informal activities in which the early childhood educator is able to find or create opportunities to provide instruction to children on target skills. Informal activities may provide a context for child-directed instructional opportunities. For example, during free-play time the teacher may ask a child to direct comments to a peer or ask a peer to play with him. If another child has chosen to play with blocks, the teacher may sit with him and assist in counting or talking about size concepts. Formal activities may provide contexts for both adult-directed and child-directed instructional opportunities. For example, the teacher may plan an art activity which will provide opportunities to instruct several children on target skills such as counting and size concepts. During that same art activity, the teacher may be able to find opportunities within the children's conversations to insert instructions on language and/or social skills. Group size refers to the manner in which aspects of social and spatial density may contribute to overcrowding or undercrowding within instructional free-play activities. Social density refers to the number of children present, and spatial density refers to the amount of space available to a given number of children. It is important to consider group size when designing a preschool environment because group size affects classroom dynamics by increasing or decreasing the number of children the teacher is interacting with and the number of children interacting with each other at any given time. Social and spatial density are interrelated in that modifications of either factor can affect the degree of crowding within an area or within a classroom which, in turn, can have an impact on the quality and degree of social interactions that occur. Organizational Aspects The issues that must be addressed when arranging the organizational aspects of the environment include (a) scheduling, (b) transition planning, (c) staffing patterns, and (d) classroom rules. What specific benefits does an optimally arranged environment provide? An optimally arranged environment may: decrease the likelihood that children will engage in challenging behaviors. promote attending to and engagement in tasks. facilitate social interaction among children. provide opportunities for incidental teaching of concepts. foster independence and feelings of competence in children. provide a pleasant atmosphere for children and staff. increase the opportunity for practice and generalization of skills across different types of activities, settings, and people. For additional environmental arrangement information, visit another U.S.D.E.-funded website called Circle of Inclusion at http://www.circleofinclusion.org. References Dunst, C., McWilliam, R.A., & Holbert, K. (1986). Assessment of preschool classroom environments. Diagnostique, 11, 212-232. LeLaurin, K., & Risley, T.R. (1972). The organization of day-care environments: “Zone” versus “man-to-man” staff assignments. Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis, 5, 225-32. Zirpoli, S.B. (1995). Designing environments for optimal behavior. In T. Zirpoli (Ed.), Understanding and affecting the behavior of young children (pp. 123-149). Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: Merrill.

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	Early Childhood Behavior Project Center for Early Education and Development (CEED) University of Minnesota Joe Reichle, Ph.D., Co-Principal Investigators LeAnne Johnson, Project Coordinator Phone: 612-626-3457 E-mail: chaf0032@umn.edu


	College of Education and Human Development	University of Minnesota

	Send questions or comments on the web site to Karen Anderson, Web Site Coordinator. http://pebbles.cehd.umn.edu/ceed/projects/preschoolbehavior/strategies/environm.htm This page was last updated on November 27, 2007. � 2005 by the Regents of the University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota is an equal opportunity educator and employer. Online privacy statement



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