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The effect of furniture arrangement on movement, on-task behavior, and sound in an early childhood setting

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Abstract

The effects of structured furniture arrangement in an early childhood classroom were compared with an open arrangement using movement, on-task behavior and sound levels as the dependent variables. A single subject reversal design construing the classroom with fourteen five-year-olds as the single subject was used. More movement, less on-task behavior, and higher sound levels were predicted in the open arrangement than in the structured condition. The results of observations during free play did not support the predictions.

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Maine Agricultural Experiment Station No. 1135. An earlier version of this paper was presented at the annual meeting of the New England Educational Research Organization, Rockland, ME, April, 1986.

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Schilmoeller, G.L., Amundrud, P.A. The effect of furniture arrangement on movement, on-task behavior, and sound in an early childhood setting. Child Youth Care Forum 16, 5–20 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01086117

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