Motivational Strategies: Understanding the Relationship between Teacher Attitudes, Behavioral Characteristics and Use of Classroom Space

Ece Altinbasak Haklidir (Dogus University)

The motivational strategies used by teachers in class are the key factors that determine success in teaching and learning experience. It is teachers’ task to create an environment for students for “the collision of reflections” that will eventually lead to students’ skills and intelligence to express their opinions and develop outcomes to form bases for knowledge building. Therefore, teachers’ role in classrooms and their interaction with students through their attitudes and motivational strategies play a crucial role in the overall teaching-learning process. Therefore, this descriptive correlational study investigates the associations between teachers’ current classroom arrangements, their classroom design preferences, and learning styles that are addressed through teachers’ motivational strategies. This study specifically focuses on cooperative learning, which emphasizes and encourages interaction between students in classrooms, and generative learning, which aims to enhance students’ self-assessment through encouraging them to reflect on their learning experiences to make them self-regulated learners. The results of the study indicates a significant relationship between these learning styles and (1) teachers’ classroom arrangements (teacher-centered and student-centered classrooms) and (2) teachers’ classroom design preferences (expandable and variations of L-shape classroom designs) and provides evidence-based information on the types of classroom designs that were found to be associated with cooperative and generative learning styles. The results of this study can inform designers, school design principals, and educators who aim to create better learning environments in which learning styles are supported by architecture and design.