Do Front Row Students Make Better Grades?
Physical closeness correlates with emotional involvement in any large audience. Thus, students who wish to excel would do well to sit physically closer to the instructor. Not only will these audience members be less distracted than those seated some distance away, they will also retain more information because they are more actively taking part in a two-way exchange.
Location, location, location–can making a good grade be as easy as sitting near the front of a classroom? A lot of university professors joke that their A and B students sit in the first two rows in lecture-style classrooms just as they often explain that the last students to turn in a test often make the highest grades. These two seemingly random occurrences have a lot in common since physically and emotionally involved students usually pay greater attention to detail, thus better retaining and then giving back more information.
Both public school and university and college students will certainly benefit if they can sit where they can see everything written on the board or on an overhead projector as well as where they can hear lectures and directions without distraction. However, it also helps if students have a clear view of the instructor’s facial expressions. If students have an unobstructed, direct line of sight, passive listening sometimes turns into a friendly conversation before and after class; and, of course, these students will be more likely to participate in class room discussions.
Even when the furniture arrangement places students into interest groups or with individual lab partners, students who sit near the physical front of the classroom remain more involved in the learning process. Moreover, at the secondary school-level, they are less likely to disrupt class because they know they will get caught. What’s more, if it’s attention that they crave, proximity ensures that the teacher will notice them. Similarly, it probably makes university-level students a little more courteous, so they show up for class on time, refrain from making under-voice comments to their neighbors, and keep their cell phones in their backpacks instead of using the cover of other students to try and text a message.
Secondary teachers often place trouble-makers near the front of the classroom because they can more easily observe them, but it goes without saying that if these students know they will get into trouble if seated near other disruptive students, they should take the proactive step of physically separating themselves. Of course, in classes with movable desks, saavy instructors can seat all their students in a horseshoe or semi-circle shaped arrangement, thus making sure that no one is seated on the back row. Even in a classroom or lab where tables and chairs are arranged to facilitate group work, the students who sit nearest the instructor’s desk or lectern often make the best grades.
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