Class Size Makes a Difference

I read the article "Size alone makes small classes better for kids." This article caught my eye because my graduating class in high school had over 600 students. Sometimes our classrooms did not have enough desks for the students enrolled, it was frustrating. In classrooms with less students, the class is more willing to engage and interact. The students are able to get more attention from the teachers and help when needed.
In the study done by the American Educational Research Association, studies were done in the USA, Hong Kong, England and Switzerland in which classroom students were closely observed in both small and large class sizes. Adam Gamoran from the University of Wisconsin collected and analyzed the findings. He said, "Small classes are more engaging places for students because they're able to have a more personal connection with teachers, simply by virtue of the fact that there are fewer kids in the classroom competing for that teacher's attention." The students were more attentive and engaged in the smaller classrooms, understandably so. With less students, the teachers are able to control and watch over the class activities.
Gamoran said that the teachers did not always take advantage of their small classrooms. Instead of creating smaller group activities or more motivational lessons, the teachers acted as if they were still teaching a large group. If a school decides to go through efforts to split classes, like happened in California, the teachers should work on adapting as well. They should re-formulate lessons, or create more interesting activities that can only be done with an oppurtunity such as a smaller class.