Alter P and Haydon T (2017) ‘Characteristics of Effective Classroom Rules: A Review of the Literature’, Teacher Education and Special Education, 40(2): 114-127.
A literature review that draws on both empirical and non-empirical studies. The empirical studies reviewed were limited to those that examined the effect of general classroom rules on student behaviour, and those that were descriptive studies that examined a number of classrooms and focused on the use of classroom rules in the context of classroom and behaviour management. The non-empirical articles reviewed were limited to those that described the characteristics of classroom rules with specificity. The literature review finds that classroom rules are an integral part of effective classroom management as they are relatively simple to implement and focus on preventing challenging behaviours before they occur. The two most important characteristics of effective classroom rules are:
- teaching the rules to students
- tying rules to positive and/or negative consequences.
Chaffee RK, Briesch AM, Johnson AH and Volpe RJ (2017) ‘A meta-analysis of class-wide interventions for supporting student behavior’, School Psychology Review, 46(2):149-164.
A meta-analysis of empirical studies evaluating the effectiveness of class-wide intervention in supporting student behaviour in general education settings. Twenty-nine studies of K-12 classrooms, published between January 1969 and September 2015, were included for analysis in the meta-analysis. Most of the studies were from the United States. Results indicate that class-wide, behaviourally oriented interventions (e.g. explicit teaching of behaviour or reinforcement) are highly effective at improving student behaviour in general education settings.
Ennis R, Royer D, Lane K and Griffith C (2017) ‘A Systematic Review of Precorrection in PK–12 Settings’, Education & Treatment of Children, 40(4):465-495.
A systematic review that draws on single case research design articles that used experimental or quasi-experimental design. The authors found that precorrection is a proactive strategy designed to prevent problem behaviour from occurring by identifying contexts likely to occasion problem behaviour and facilitating the occurrence of appropriate behaviour. They concluded precorrection to be an evidence-based practice using a weighted coding criterion to examine the evidence-based determination.
Pashler H (1994) ‘Dual-task interference in simple tasks: Data and theory’, Psychological Bulletin, 116(2):220-244.
A literature review that investigates why people often have trouble performing two relatively simple tasks concurrently. The results show that people have surprisingly severe limitations on their ability to carry out simultaneously certain cognitive processes that seem fairly trivial from a computational standpoint. Yet it is clear that mental operations also frequently overlap with each other; for example, people can readily monitor sensory input at the same time as carrying out unrelated central processes such as memory retrieval.
Rubie-Davies CM, Weinstein RS, Huang FL, Gregory A, Cowan PA and Cowan CP (2014) ‘Successive teacher expectation effects across the early school years’, Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 35(3):181-191.
This paper describes a study that examined four types of long-term ‘teacher expectation’ (that is, the beliefs that teachers hold about the potential academic performance of their students) effects. The study had 110 participating students from preschool to Grade 4, who were tracked on measures of achievement and teacher expectations. The study found evidence for teacher expectancy within and across years.
Simonsen B, Fairbanks S, Briesch A, Myers D and Sugai G (2008) ‘Evidence-based Practices in Classroom Management: Considerations for Research to Practice’, Education and Treatment of Children, 31(3):351-380.
A systematic review of studies using rigorous causal research designs. The authors identified five critical features of classroom management:
- maximise structure
- post, teach, review, monitor and reinforce expectations
- actively engage students in observable ways
- use a continuum of strategies to acknowledge appropriate behaviour
- use a continuum of strategies to respond to inappropriate behaviour.
They found that each of the critical features can be implemented by teachers with careful planning before (that is, designing systems), at the beginning of (establishing structure, expectations and systems) and throughout the school year (for example, teaching and reviewing expectations, providing high rates of opportunities to respond, and delivering contingent and specific praise).
Summerfield C and Egner T (2009) ‘Expectation (and attention) in visual cognition’, Trends in Cognitive Science, 13(9):403-9.
A literature review that investigates visual cognition. It explores how expectation influences visual perception. Expectations are brain states that reflect prior information about what is possible or probable in the forthcoming sensory environment. For example, on entering a familiar room, we have prior knowledge about the likely configuration of furniture, paintings or plants, gleaned over multiple previous encounters. The findings suggest that expectation, while often neglected in the literature, is an important component of visual cognition and that this type of foreknowledge can be employed to reduce the computational burden of visual perception.
Wannarka R and Ruhl K (2008) ‘Seating arrangements that promote positive academic and behavioural outcomes: A review of empirical research’, Support for Learning, 23(2):89-93.
A systematic review on seating arrangements in classrooms. The studies reviewed were limited to empirical studies about desk arrangement, for which subjects were of school age, and that were available in English and published in a peer-reviewed journal between 1979 and 2007. Eight studies that investigated at least two of three common arrangements (that is, rows, groups or semi-circles) were considered. Results indicate that teachers should let the nature of the task dictate seating arrangements. Evidence supports the idea that students display higher levels of appropriate behaviour during individual tasks when they are seated in rows, with disruptive students benefiting the most.