Research Project
Full description The classroom "vibe" is palpable. Upon entering, one often senses an energy in the room that communicates information about the environment and those within it. The nature of this intangible vibe is determined by the quality of the connections and the sense of engagement between members of the dynamic social classroom ecology. Consequently, the vibe of the classroom reflects the extent to which personal and behavioural characteristics are shared across the social ecology. This sharing of cognitive, emotional, behavioural, neurological and physiological states is known as social synchrony and is an innate capacity to communicate and connect with others. The purpose of this thesis was to explore from the perspectives of students and teachers in three Year 9 classrooms how positive classroom vibes were created by effective teachers, drawing upon literature from the science of learning to articulate both the deliberate and the innate, the conscious and the unconscious processes involved in engineering positive learning environments. From this, an effective way to articulate relevant strategies, processes and practices that can facilitate the engineering of social synchrony across a wider range of school teaching and learning contexts was to be determined. This project aimed to explore how effective secondary school teachers create highly connected, socially synchronised learning environments, from the perspectives of the teachers themselves and their students, and whether these qualities could be captured in some way to share with other teachers. The findings lead to the development of a Social Synchrony Matrix - a self-regulatory tool for teachers of all levels of experience. The matrix was developed and iteratively refined using a design-based research methodology, drawing on the perspectives and practices of teachers from Year 1 to Year 12. The tool prompts teachers to become more aware of the factors that influence social synchrony in the classroom and how to consider these in the planning and delivery of learning experiences. It also articulates the verbal and non-verbal behaviours that can provide insight into the experience of learner connection, and strategies for promoting social synchrony. The Social Synchrony Matrix has been identified as a useful tool for teachers of all experience levels, including novice and pre-service teachers, and also as an effective tool for peer-observation. It can provide a common language for teachers to articulate the deliberate and the innate processes that support the development of positive learning environments.