Open research questions in Educational Environments and Student Outcomes

What the literature leaves open

• IRE 1719979 ICONIC RESEARCH AND ENGINEERING JOURNALS 2932 © JUL 2026 | IRE Journals | Volume 10 Issue 1 | ISSN: 2456-8880 DOI: https://doi.org/10.64388/IREV10I1-1719979 5.1…

  A Framework for Healthy and Sustainable Learning Spaces: Linking Materiality, Indoor Environmental Quality (Ieq), And Student Well-Being in Caleb University, Lagos State, Nigeria · 2026 · DOI

• Based on the study findings, the following recommendations are made to enhance STEM integration and learner engagement in lower primary education in Uganda: • The Ministry of Education and Sports, in collaboration with school administrators and local education authorities, should ensure the regular supply of manipulatives, STEM kits, and other hands-on learning materials. Such resources are fundamental for supporting inquiry, creative problem-solving in early learning contexts. experimentation, and • Teacher training should organise institutions and school administrators regular, practical professional development programs focused on inquiry-based, play-based, and constructivist teaching strategies. These should include demonstrations, mentorship, and school-based follow-ups to strengthen teachers’ pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) and confidence implementing STEM education. in • School management and local education authorities should prioritise the creation of safe, well-organised, and flexible learning environments conducive to collaboration, experimentation, and discovery. Schools should establish dedicated STEM corners, indoor exploratory spaces, and outdoor play areas that allow learners to engage in hands- on inquiry. • Teachers and curriculum developers should collaborate to embed STEM concepts across multiple subjects, promoting interdisciplinary understanding and real-world application. Integrating science, mathematics, technology, literacy, and engineering within 1028 | This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. East African Journal of Education Studies, Volume 9, Issue 1, 2026 Article DOI: https://doi.org/10.37284/eajes.9.1.4684 environmental studies, and creative arts will strengthen holistic and contextual learning.

  Creating a Conducive Learning Environment for STEM Integration in Lower Primary Education: Lessons from Ugandan Primary Schools · 2026 · DOI

• practices. classroom Education Sciences, 9(3), 1–15. and Chen, C. H., & Huang, K. (2020). Developing thinking and creativity students’ critical through education. International Journal of STEM Education, 7(1), 18. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40594-020- 00204-w integrated STEM Chi, M. T. H. (2000). Self-explaining expository texts: The dual processes of generating inferences and repairing mental models. In R.

  Creating a Conducive Learning Environment for STEM Integration in Lower Primary Education: Lessons from Ugandan Primary Schools · 2026 · DOI

• Based on results, it is recommended to enhance the visibility of summer and youth camps with content beyond sports, swimming, and folk-dance camps typically offered locally. In particular, “astronomy, aviation, and sky observation camps”, “mathematics and science camps”, and “STEM, robotics, and science workshops” should be promoted, and access should be supported through free or low-cost options, especially in rural or disadvantaged regions. The study also found that student participation in visits to informal learning environments such as “botanical gardens”, “art galleries and studios”, “planetariums and sky observation centers”, and “renewable energy facilities” was relatively low. Investments and initiatives should therefore be made to increase students’ visits to and engagement in activities offered by informal learning settings such as “nature education programs and forest schools”, “science cafés”, “science centers”, and “STEM and robotics workshops”. Moreover, measures should be taken to ensure equitable access across gender, grade levels, and place of residence so that all groups of children and youth can benefit equally from opportunities provided by informal learning environments. Special attention should be given to children living in villages, with efforts directed at increasing their participation in visits to and activities within informal learning environments both within their province and in other parts of the country. For future studies, it is recommended to conduct mixed-method research combining descriptive and qualitative approaches to investigate not only the extent of children’s and young people’s participation in informal learning environments but also the underlying reasons for their participation or non-participation.

  Investigation of Social and Cultural Informal Learning Opportunities for Middle and High School Students · 2026 · DOI

• Although participation in youth camps is available free of charge through local youth centers affiliated with the Ministry, the result of very low participation in such camps suggests that access to these state-provided opportunities is insufficient or that students are unable to attend for various reasons.

  Investigation of Social and Cultural Informal Learning Opportunities for Middle and High School Students · 2026 · DOI

• Yet its lack of experiential immersion and reli- ance on limited data, particularly acute in Iran, restrict its impact (Brkovic 2019, Shahraki 2021).

  From rigidity to flexibility: reforming urban planning studio pedagogies in developing nations · 2026 · DOI

• This study explores Chinese students' learning engagement, encompassing behavioral, cognitive, and emotional aspects, and its intricate relationships with school atmosphere, academic self-efficacy, and academic emotions—an area that remains significantly under-researched in contemporary educational psychology.

  The Interplay of School Environment and Academic Self-Beliefs in Predicting Learning Engagement Among Chinese Students · 2026 · DOI

• It is important to recognize that our study is limited in several ways. First and above all, we assessed teachers’ emotions only from the students’ perspective. Hence, we were not able to verify the accuracy of the students’ perceptions of their teachers’ emotions. As emotions have strong physical correlates, such as sweating, increased heart rate, and muscle tension (Savina & Fulton, 2024), and emotions also transfer into facial expression (Ekman, 1993; Wolf, 2015), students might be able to perceive their teachers’ emotions. In addition, teachers’ self-reported emotions and students’ perceptions of these emotions have been shown to be significantly correlated, indicating that students are quite accurate in their perceptions of the emotions their teachers express (Keller & Becker, 2021). Although students may have accurately perceived the emotions their teachers expressed, we were nonetheless unable to include teachers’ self-reports of the emotions they were experiencing. Considering the fact that teachers use various strategies to show, hide, or maintain lower intensities of certain emotions (Wang et al., 2023), teachers’ abilities to regulate their emotions to fit the situation appropriately can be seen as essential for maintaining positive teacher-student relationships. Emotion regulation refers to the processes by which individuals influence the which, when, and how of their emotions (Abler & Kessler, 2009; Gross, 1998). Hence, we were able to access only how students perceived their teachers’ emotional expressions, not the underlying emotions themselves or the intensity with which the teachers might have experienced the emotions. Thus, future research should also focus on teachers’ self-reported emotions. We did not consider students’ emotions, although research has shown that students’ emotions are strongly related to students’ outcomes. For example, students’ emotions are associated with their achievement (Pekrun et al., 2002) and their motivation for learning (Mega et al., 2014) and are thus of high importance. Teachers’ and students’ emotions are often reciprocal and aligned (Donker et al., 2021; Keller & Becker, 2021), which makes a comparison between students’ and teachers’ emotions in the classroom even more important. We treated teachers’ emotions and their interpersonal behavior as stable in their particular classes, independent of different time frames. However, as emotions are quite dynamic (Keller & Becker, 2021), future research should consider emotions as states and perhaps try to assess emotions and interpersonal behavior across a larger number of lessons or a longer time span (e.g., years). It is particularly the teacher-student relationship that seems to become less positive after time and as students get older (Hajovsky et al., 2020; Mason et al., 2017). As our sample consisted primarily of young adults, it would be interesting to observe their emotions and their perceptions of teachers’ interpersonal behavior across time.

  How the teacher-student relationship is associated with the proportions of male and ethnic minority students in class and teachers’ emotions · 2026 · DOI

• The paper identifies institutional, financial, and pedagogical barriers to adopting topography innovation but does not provide a quantified cost-benefit analysis or ROI framework for universities in resource-constrained contexts (such as Algerian institutions) considering Excel and AutoCAD implementation.

  Learning Topography and Its Impact on Student Behavior: The Use of Microsoft Excel and AutoCAD as an Innovation in an Algerian University · 2026 · DOI

• The research demonstrates that innovation improves student motivation and engagement in topography courses, but lacks validation across different institutional contexts within Algeria or comparative analysis with topography programs in institutions with differing infrastructure levels and resource availability.

  Learning Topography and Its Impact on Student Behavior: The Use of Microsoft Excel and AutoCAD as an Innovation in an Algerian University · 2026 · DOI

• The study confirms that faculty training and ongoing institutional commitment are necessary for successful technology-enhanced topographical instruction, but does not specify the optimal frequency, duration, or content structure of faculty professional development programs for topography educators implementing digital tools.

  Learning Topography and Its Impact on Student Behavior: The Use of Microsoft Excel and AutoCAD as an Innovation in an Algerian University · 2026 · DOI

• The paper acknowledges that computer rooms impose logistical constraints (limited time, availability, flexibility) that discourage ongoing practice in topography learning, but does not empirically compare pedagogical outcomes between lab-session-only delivery versus hybrid/flexible-access models for topography software instruction.

  Learning Topography and Its Impact on Student Behavior: The Use of Microsoft Excel and AutoCAD as an Innovation in an Algerian University · 2026 · DOI

• The study identifies that 60% of Algerian secondary schools lacked computer science facilities in 2011, but does not investigate how this infrastructure deficit at the secondary level specifically impacts student preparedness for topography instruction using Microsoft Excel and AutoCAD at the university level. A longitudinal analysis tracking students from under-resourced secondary schools through topography coursework is needed.

  Learning Topography and Its Impact on Student Behavior: The Use of Microsoft Excel and AutoCAD as an Innovation in an Algerian University · 2026 · DOI

• Although Educational Escape Rooms (EER) are becoming more prevalent in formal education, initiatives related to the topic of energy transition are scarce.

  Unlocking Learning: The Impact of an Educational Escape Room on Energy Transition · 2024 · DOI

• In response to the educational reform, various learning strategies including group- and pair work activities, generating open questions, student presentation and some features of dialogue have been employed by teachers to develop LCIP in classrooms, although little research has explored how teachers implement LCIP in practice.

  The learner-centred interactive pedagogy classroom: Its implications for dialogic interaction in Eritrean secondary schools · 2023 · DOI

• Furthermore, relatively few studies have been done on the empirical context of a developing nation with distinct social and economic circumstances, concerning university students' experiences of virtual classrooms during COVID-19.

  A Framework for Transitioning to Virtual Classes During Life-Threatening Pandemics Like COVID-19 · 2022 · DOI

• While both models adequately compare scale of change through interactions between non-locational demographic groups on several geographic/locational levels the models are limited by their simplistic visual renderings and their application to educational contexts within the field of educational technology.

  Advancing Ecological Models to Compare Scale in Multi-level Educational Change · 2016 · DOI

• In the United Kingdom there is a long tradition of residential outdoor learning provision, but to date there is limited research evidence for the direct educational benefits of such experiences, and to both critics and supporters the distinction between such visits and 'holidays in school time' is not always apparent.

  ‘Did you enjoy your holiday?’ Can residential outdoor learning benefit mainstream schooling? · 2013 · DOI

• Research limitations/implications The study involves a single school in a specific socio-cultural context and captures only immediate post-workshop effects; longer-term changes in spatial perception remain unknown.

  Co-creating school streets through participatory design-build: a transnational workshop with children and architecture students in Palermo · 2026 · DOI

• How teachers communicate their beliefs and attitudes about a situation can shed light on self-efficacy; however, the words and phrases teachers use have not been extensively examined in the literature.

  Words have power: an analyses of word use and conversations by teachers as they transition to teaching in an outdoor classroom · 2025 · DOI

• Very few studies have focused on within-class ability grouping, especially in a South African context, where this homogeneous style within-class grouping is the dominant practice in Grade 1 classrooms, despite literature’s cautions against its continuous use.

  The manifestations of the practice of within-class homogeneous ability grouping · 2019 · DOI

• Furthermore, practical, participatory and principled examples of the design and construction of bespoke learning spaces are warranted to guide those formulating and implementing policy, particularly the commissioning and construction of built educational environments.

  Architecting the ‘third teacher’: Solid foundations for the participatory and principled design of schools and (built) learning environments · 2017 · DOI

• Conclusionand Recommendations:It can be said that teacher candidates are, to someextent, aware of what should be done or should not be done in creating a positiveclassroom atmosphere; however, there are some points that they are lacking.

  An Investigation on Teacher Candidates’ Perspectives about Behaviors Positively Affecting Classroom Atmosphere · 2016 · DOI

• When class-to-class demands are similar and have been created with student input, students react more favorably than when classroom expectations vary widely and are totally teacher produced.

  An Operational Definition of Class Participation · 2006

• Despite the fact that this mode of operating classrooms is not the dominant one, and is correspondingly under-researched, there is good evidence that it brings significant benefits.

  Classrooms as learning communities: a review of research · 2005 · DOI

Most-cited papers in Educational Environments and Student Outcomes

• Models of learning space: integrating research on space, place and learning in higher education · Review of Education · 2016 · 202 citations
• Factors influencing teachers' engagement in informal learning activities · Journal of Workplace Learning · 2006 · 189 citations
• Place-based education <b>–</b> a systematic review of literature · Educational Review · 2023 · 182 citations
• Social learning spaces and student engagement · Higher Education Research & Development · 2011 · 143 citations
• Distributed Scaffolding: Scaffolding Students in Classroom Environments · Educational Psychology Review · 2021 · 125 citations
• The discourse of classroom interaction in Kenyan primary schools · Comparative Education · 2005 · 69 citations
• Motivational climate theory: Disentangling definitions and roles of classroom motivational support, climate, and microclimates · Educational Psychologist · 2023 · 65 citations
• Learning: The pupil's voice · Cambridge Journal of Education · 2000 · 64 citations
• Satisfied teachers are good teachers: The association between teacher job satisfaction and instructional quality · British Educational Research Journal · 2023 · 63 citations
• Creating a Supportive Classroom Environment Through Effective Feedback: Effects on Students’ School Identification and Behavioral Engagement · Frontiers in Education · 2021 · 63 citations

Most recent work

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• Learning Topography and Its Impact on Student Behavior: The Use of Microsoft Excel and AutoCAD as an Innovation in an Algerian University · Journal of Education and Learning Reviews · 2026
• Strategies for designing informal learning spaces in libraries based on comprehensive field measurements of light, noise, thermal, and air quality · Scientific Reports · 2026
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• Co-creating school streets through participatory design-build: a transnational workshop with children and architecture students in Palermo · Archnet-IJAR: International Journal of Architectural Research · 2026
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