EVALUATING EFFECTS OF THE CLASSROOM ENVIRONMENT: DEVELOPMENT OF AN INSTRUMENT FOR THE MEASUREMENT OF SELF-REPORTED MOOD AMONG SCHOOL CHILDREN

Authors: LUNDQUIST P.¹; KJELLBERG A.²; HOLMBERG K.¹

Source: Journal of Environmental Psychology, Volume 22, Number 3, September 2002 , pp. 289-293(5)

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Abstract:

The aim of this study was to develop a mood-rating instrument primarily aimed at identifying effects of noise and other aspects of the classroom environment, that probably are of importance, for the children's scholastic performance. None of the existing mood questionnaires was found to be directly applicable to the target group, viz., children in upper compulsory school in Sweden. An adjective checklist containing 45 mood-describing adjectives was constructed and answered by a group of 280 students. Thirteen of the items had a non-response rate above 10 per cent and were excluded. The remaining 32 items were subjected to factor analyses, and another group of 443 students were used to cross-validate the obtained factor structure.

The analyses showed that the adjective checklist reflected two slightly negatively correlated latent factors. One factor described task orientation, the other inattentiveness. A questionnaire was constructed containing 12 items covering the content of these two factors.

This instrument reflects important aspects of the classroom climate. It is easy to administer, quickly completed, and should be useful in studies of the classroom environment. Copyright 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.

Language: English

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: National Institute for Working Life, Umeå, S-907 13, Sweden 2: National Institute for Working Life, Solna, S-171 84, Sweden

Publication date: 2002-09-01