Proper an-angement of classroom space is important to encouraging interaction. Most of us have noticed how important physical setting is to efficiency and comfort when we work. Today' s corporations hire human engineering specialists and spend a great deal of time and money to make sure that the physical environments of buildings are fit to the activities of their inhabitants.
Similarly, college classroom space should be designed to encourage the activity of critical thinking. We will move into the twenty-first century, but step into almost any college classroom and you will step back in time at least a hundred years. Desks are normally in straight rows, so students can clearly see the teacher but not all their classmates. The assumption behind such an arrangement is obvious:everything important comes from the teacher.
With a imagination and effort, unless desks are fixed to the floor, the teacher can correct this situation and create space that encourages interchanges among students. In small or standard sized classes, chairs, desks and tables can be arranged in different ways: circles, U-shapes, or semicircles. The primary goal should be for everyone to be able to see everyone else. Larger classes, particularly those held i.n lecture halls, unfortunately, allow much less flexibility.
Arrangement of the classroom should also make it easy to divide students into small groups for discussion or problem-solving exercises. Small classes with malleable desks and tables present no problem. Even in large lecture halls, it is possible for students to turn around and form groups of four to six. Breaking a class into small groups provides more opportunities for students to interact with each other, think out hard, and see how other students' thinking processes operate--all these are the most important elements in developing new modes of critical thinking.
In courses that regularly use a small group format, students might be asked to stay in the same small groups throughout the course. A colleague of mine allows students to move around during the first two weeks, until they find a group they are comfortable with. He then asks them to stay in the same seat, with the same group, from then on. This not only creates a comfortable setting for in teraction but helps him learn students' names and faces.
46. The expression "step back in time at least a hundred years" ( Para. 2 ) is intended to convey the idea that_________
[ A] college classrooms often remind people of their college life
B. critical thinking was encouraged even a century ago
C. a hundred years ago, desk arrangement in a classroom was quite different
D.there is not much change in the college educational idea over the past hundred years
47. The primary purpose of desk rearrangement is_________
A. for the teacher to divide students into small groups
B. to make it possible for students to interact with each other
C. for the teacher to find out how students think
D.to give students more opportunities to practice speaking
48. The greatest advantage in allowing each student to find his own group might be that_________
A. the teacher saves the trouble in doing that ——
B. learning is made comfortable in this way
C. the teacher can easily remember students' names and faces
D.brighter students can help slower ones
49. Which of the following is NOT true according to the passage?
A. New kind of desks and chairs should be made.
B. Many companies are trying to improve the working settings for their employees.
C. Classroom interaction between students is essential to the training of critical thinking
D.A comfortable environment leads to higher working efficiency.
50. Which of the following arrangements of the classroom can bring about the best teaching effect?
A. Arranging the desks in straight rows and providing every minute for the students to listen to the teacher.
B. Breaking a class into small groups and letting the students find the group they prefer to stay in.
C. Putting the students in larger classes and allowing them to discuss.
D.Breaking a class into small groups and asking the students to stay in the fixed groups as the teacher arranges.
