“You may begin the test!” the professor proclaims loudly.
A muffled shuffling of papers erupts from the lecture hall as hundreds of students open their final Chemistry quiz of the semester. After a few moments, the shuffling of paper dies down and the room settles into an eerie silence. Five minutes of hard thinking pass, and then there it is again — the faintest whispers of paper brushing paper, slight whooshing sounds in the air that soon grow into what sounds like a flock of birds flapping frantically. Someone drops his calculator, creating a loud clack in the lecture hall. My neighbor’s answer sheet slips off her desk and falls straight into view, beckoning for me to look. A few rows down, someone’s desk lever fails, sending all her test materials to the floor.
When a student is pressed for time taking a stressful exam, an uncomfortable testing environment is not a factor she should have to worry about. Yet for many introductory classes, testing environments are anything but relaxed. Testing rooms are often noisy, crowded and cramped, making already stressful examinations just a little more nerve-wracking. Of course, most of these conditions are unavoidable because of the sheer logistics of class populations. But by far the worst aspect of mass testing environments are the downright tiny desks.
The desk sizes in many of the University’s lecture halls are atrociously small — to the point of being downright laughable — and actively create a stressful environment for learning and testing. My first grade desk had more space than the pathetic “foldout” desks placed in halls like Wilson 402 and Chem 402. Currently, the dimensions of the desks in Chem 402 (a lecture hall which hosts thousands of students for courses ranging from Economics to Neuroscience) are a measly 4 inches in width by 5 inches in length. In contrast, the average dimensions of a piece of paper are 8 by 11 inches, more than double that of a single desk. If the desks provided to students aren't even large enough to hold a single sheet of paper comfortably, how are students supposed to take effective notes during lectures?
An even bigger problem with desk sizes is the danger that they may indirectly impact student performance on tests. For example, in many timed chemistry tests, students are expected to juggle a scantron, a question packet, a periodic table and a scientific calculator all on the same desk. This cluster of materials results in a constant shuffling of papers during the testing period which is distracting not only to the panicked student, but also to other students around him. Additionally, this shuffling of paper wastes precious time, especially on timed tests, and can increase the occurrence of student error on tests (particularly when a student has to look back and forth between reference papers like the periodic table and the test questions themselves).
Frankly speaking, the desks currently being used in large lecture halls like Wilson and Chem 402 provide inadequate space for students to learn and test. As I mentioned in an article I penned earlier in the semester on the importance of creative education, the power of good design can actually impact the practical utility of an object. While calling for a replacement of all small foldout desks in the halls like Chem 402 would be a tall order, the University should make it a priority to renovate old lecture halls like Chem 402 which are currently standing on their last legs.
Professors should try to streamline their test formats so as to reduce the need to constantly flip back and forth between reference papers; as an example, chemistry professors could post given equations on the overhead for immediate and easy access, rather than including them on a separate sheet of paper. Meanwhile, the University should, as a temporary solution, provide professors access to smaller classrooms with bigger desks for testing periods by splitting students into smaller testing groups instead of cramming hundreds of students into auditorium-style lecture halls. Students need free and open space to work to their fullest potential; actively providing students with comfortable and appropriate learning environments will help foster academic success.
Hasan Khan is an Opinion Columnist for The Cavalier Daily. He can be reached at h.khan@cavalierdaily.com.
Read More
EDITORIAL: Celebrating and reflecting on The Cavalier Daily’s independence
By Editorial Board | 5 days agoOur independence grants us the ability to ask the hard questions and to say what University representatives cannot.
ARRAS: U.Va. must revise the Sexual Assault Prevention Training module
By Aoife Arras | 6 days agoIn addition to its failures in interactivity, the module lacks details specific to the University and discusses key concepts in universal terms.
EDITORIAL: Pedestrian safety is an institutional imperative
By Editorial Board | April 15, 2024Amid a national crisis of pedestrian safety, Charlottesville and the University are also struggling to properly maintain pedestrian safety.
