Proper arrangement of classroom space is important to encouraging interaction. Most of us have noticed how important physical setting is to efficiency and comfort in our work. College classroom space should be designed to encourage the activity of critical thinking. We may be approaching the twenty-first century, but step into almost any college classroom and you step back in time at least a hundred years. Desks are normally in straight rows, so students can clearly see the teacher but not all their classmates. The assumption behind such an arrangement is obvious. Everything of importance comes from the teacher.
With a little imagination and effort, unless desks are fixed to the floor, the teacher can correct this situation and create space that encourages interchange among students. In small or standard-size classes, chairs, desks, and tables can be arranged in a variety of ways. The primary goal should be for everyone to be able to see everyone else. Larger classes, particularly those held in lecture halls, unfortunately, allow much less flexibility.
Arrangement of the classroom should also make it easy to divide students into small groups for discussion or problem-solving exercises. Small classes with movable desks and tables present no problem. Even in large lecture halls, it is possible for students to turn around and form groups of four to six. Breaking a class into small groups provides more opportunities for students to interact with each other, think out loud, and see how other students’ thinking processes operate all essential elements in developing new modes of critical thinking. In courses that regularly use a small group format, students might be asked to stay in the same small groups throughout the course. A colleague of mine, John, allows students to move around during the first two weeks, until they find a group they are comfortable with. John then asks them to stay in the same seat, with the same group, from that time on. This not only creates a comfortable setting for interaction but helps him learn students’ names and faces.
The greatest advantage in allowing each student to find his own group might be that ______.
A. the teacher saves the trouble in doing that
B. learning is made comfortable in this way
C. the teacher can easily remember students’ names and faces
D. brighter students can help slower ones
参考答案：B
解析：本题是细节题。文中最后一段末句提到This not only creates...names and faces.。全文都在讲如何通过布置教室空间促进学生交流，最后一段提到让学生自己找一个组参与交流，其主要的益处(greatest advantage)是：让他感到自由自在，可以充分发表自己的看法，积极参与讨论。这与整个课堂的改革是相一致的，所以B选项是正确答案，“这种方式使学习变得舒适”。C选项不对，它所表达的内容当然也是这一做法的好处之一，但不是主要的目的。A、D选项文中没有提到。