ABOUT THE STUDY
Note. Kaplan, 2026.
This study was able to look and determine how a classrooms physical environment can impact children's sense of belonging and engagement levels within their learning space. The aim of this study was to look at different parts of the classroom such as the layout, accessible and quality of materials, lighting in the classrooms, and how children and educators were engaging in those spaces.
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This topic was important for me to explore because children spend most of their time in classrooms, and the way the classroom is set up can not only affect their academic performance but can impact also impact their preparation for their adulthood years. By bringing all these aspects and the different peer-reviewed literature discussed, this capstone project was able to find how the different patterns in and these environments and how differently they are experienced, and how they can either support or limit their participation.
RESEARCH QUESTIONS
This study aimed to find answers to the following questions: ​
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How does the physical environment of early childhood education classrooms affect children’s sense of belonging and engagement in their learning environments?
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Which parts of the physical environment are linked to children’s belonging and engagement?
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METHODOLOGY
For this study, I used a qualitative rapid review approach to better analyze the pieces of literature included (Wollscheid & Tripney, 2021). I wanted to ensure that all findings are accurate and with that I made sure to remain unbiased as possible throughout working on my project. In total, I selected and looked at eight peer-reviewed studies based on specific criteria I followed and used Covidence which is a website that helps researchers find the literature that match their study best in a smooth and easy way (Covidence, 2024). These studies included children between the ages of 3 to 6, as well as educators, and focused on how classroom environments are differently experienced as well as the way they are set up. I then grouped the findings into themes to help me better understand how different parts of the environment are connected to children’s participation which resulted in my five main findings (Braun & Clarke, 2006).
FINDINGS
The findings of my study were able to show that the physical classroom environment was very connected to how children participated and engaged. Children were often found to engage longer in certain areas that were clearly organized and easy to access, while crowded and spaces that were limited made it harder for them to move between activities (Clement, 2019; Sando & Sandseter, 2022).​ Materials also mattered. When materials were accessible, children were more likely to start and stay in activities, but when materials were not accessible and required assistance from educators, it sometimes made their play last less than intended(Chen & Wang, 2018; Colwell et al., 2016).
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Children’s involvement in co-creating the environment and sharing their own perspectives also made a difference, as they stayed more engaged when they could move freely and make choices. At the same time, the role of the educator and classroom rules and different classroom rules and restrictions had impacted the way children were behaving (Børve & Børve, 2016; Botsoglou et al., 2019; Kaynak-Ekici et al., 2021; Stankovic-Ramirez & Vittrup, 2023). Further, a part of this studies future directions for researchers was to do conduct more in detail research on children's sense of belonging and engagement when they are the individuals who are actively creating their environment as well as having clearer definitions on how children's belonging and engagement is described across literature. Adding on, I also recommended for policy makers to include more guidance on how classroom environments should be set up to support children’s participation and belonging and encourage the educators to include children when designing their physical classroom environments.