DOES CLASSROOM SEATING LOCATION MEAN A BARRIER IN THE PROCESS OF LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION?

The relationship between people and environment has been an issue of concern, even in educational facilities. The layout of the classroom is currently presented as an argument with regards to traditional or open space models. However, despite the arrangement of furniture, the place each student decides to make his own seems to play a fundamental role in the process of learning. This relationship has been mostly explored in primary and secondary school without a focus of interest in Higher Education.

This research aims to find out if there is a relationship between classroom seating location and student grade in Higher Education.
This exploratory case was led at the University of a Coruña (UDC) under a multi-method approach. Firstly, quantitative data was collected with the Learning Environment Perception Scale (LEPS) from 793 undergraduate students at the UDC. This data is composed by the perception of two different formal learning spaces, since students have to attend to a lecture classroom and an interactive one. It was explored through Kolmogorov-Smirnov and due to the results, non-parametric analyses were carried out. After, Tukey's Post Hoc Test was conducted in order to inquire among which groups there were the differences. Secondly, results of the statistical analysis were discussed through semi-structured interview with five professors from this university.

Findings indicate the presence of statistical significance between some of the locations in the classroom and the academic outcome of those students. These results support the literature in terms of the influence of seating location in the student grades, which must be taken in consideration in order to new teaching methods and classroom designs. It has been shown the need of understanding the reasons behind these relations in order to control those locations that influence in a negative way in the process of learning.