The classroom setting as a source of expectations about teachers and pupils

Abstract The major purpose of this research is to examine the impact of classroom spatial arrangement (open versus traditional) and orderliness (messy versus neat) on observers' impressions of teachers and pupils. In experiments 1 and 2, samples of college students were shown color slides of vacant elementary classrooms which varied on these two physical dimensions. Subjects were asked to indicate their impressions of the teacher and the pupils who used each room by completing a set of bipolar adjective scales. Data analysis indicated that teachers in neat classrooms were rated more positively than their counterparts in disorderly classrooms on measures of kindliness, inventiveness, and organization. Pupils associated with neat classrooms were judged to be happier and better behaved. Open classroom teachers received higher ratings than traditional classroom teachers on kindliness and inventiveness. In experiment 3, the same procedure was used to obtain ratings from fifth-grade students. Their judgements of teacher and pupil characteristics were also positively affected by neatness, but classroom arrangement had no impact.