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FAU Features from page 9 Elementary school children spend most of their days in vice president of institutional advancement and CEO of
assigned seats, in the company of classmates. In most elementary FAUF. “This last fiscal year shows just how committed
policies, launched more flexible curricula, and provided school classrooms, teachers decide who sits next to whom and, our friends, alumni and partners are to the mission and
targeted financial assistance. By ensuring that actionable data by extension, who interacts with whom. vision of the university.”
made it directly into the hands of those who could make a “Taken together, our findings highlight the enormous During this record-setting year, FAU received the
difference for students, FAU overcame the obstacle of silos influence that teachers wield over the interpersonal lives of largest scholarship gift in its history. Announced in May,
forming in terms of competing unit priorities and goals, as children. With great power comes great responsibility,” said the university received an estate pledge of $28 million
well as decentralized data centers. Laursen. “We urge teachers to exercise their power judiciously. from John and Ann Wood to support scholarships for
“It is a great honor for Florida Atlantic to be nationally Unintended social consequences have been known to arise when students enrolled in the Charles E. Schmidt College of
recognized for our innovative approach to delivering success adults meddle in the social lives of children.” Medicine. This is the largest known scholarship gift to a
for all students – regardless of background,” said FAU Study co-author is Sharon Faur, a developmental psychology Florida public university’s medical school.
Interim Provost Michele Hawkins. “We are proactive and doctoral student in FAU’s Charles E. Schmidt College of Science. “At the university’s dedication ceremony in 1964,
use evidence to keep a record number of students on track The study was supported by the United States National former U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson declared that
for timely graduation, so that they can drive our regional Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National our goal must be to open the doors of higher education
and state workforce.” Institutes of Health (HD096457). to all who can qualify,” said FAU President John Kelly.
Judges select winners from written applications and, if “Thanks to generous gifts from our many supporters,
needed, follow-up interviews. Entries are scored on value to FAU Foundation Raises Florida Atlantic is able to provide opportunities for
the institution, innovation, and relevance to the mission of the talented, hardworking students to earn degrees, regardless
school and are announced in conjunction with Eduventures $81.24 Million In Record- of their background.”
Annual Summit. FAU currently serves more than 30,000 undergraduate
Setting Year and graduate students across six campuses. In recent
Seat Assignments Drive By Kristine Gobbo years, the university has doubled its research expenditures
and outpaced its peers in student achievement rates.
Friendships Among The Florida Atlantic FAU is highly ranked by U.S. News & World Report for
Elementary School Children University Foundation “Social Mobility” and a top degree producer for black
(FAUF) raised more than
and Hispanic students. FAU is also consistently ranked
$81.24 million from more than 5,332 donors at the end as the most ethnically and culturally diverse institution
By Gisele Galoustian of the 2022 fiscal year – the largest amount raised in in Florida’s state university system.
Most teachers focus on academic considerations when the university’s history. This total breaks the record of “FAU’s ever-increasing success is fueled by the
assigning seats. A new study by Florida Atlantic University $57 million from the previous year and demonstrates a generosity of our supporters,” said Steven Schmidt, FAUF
psychology researchers is the first to show that these continued trajectory for growth. board chair. “It is thanks to their philanthropy that the
classroom seat assignments also have important implications “FAU was founded on philanthropy, and that tradition university is able to add and expand exciting experiences
for children’s friendships. has continued for more than 60 years,” said Chris Delisio, for learning, research, athletics and the arts and more.”
Results of the study, published in the journal Frontiers in
Psychology, revealed that friendships reflect classroom seat
assignments. Students sitting next to or nearby one another
were more likely to be friends with one another than students
seated elsewhere in the classroom. Moreover, longitudinal
analyses showed that classroom seating proximity was You’re Retired
associated with the formation of new friendships. After seat
assignments changed, students were more likely to become Your Money Isn’t.
friends with newly near-seated classmates than with those
who remained or became seated farther away.
“The students in our study spent most of every day with To learn why consolidating your
the same 15 or so classmates. By the middle of the school year, retirement accounts to Edward Jones
there were no unfamiliar peers,” said Brett Laursen, Ph.D.,
senior author and a professor of psychology in FAU’s Charles makes sense, contact your Edward
E. Schmidt College of Science. “Yet when seat assignments Jones nancial advisor today.
changed, new seatmates were apt to become new friends,
consistent with claims that exposure alone is not a sufficient
condition for friendship. Apparently, proximity transcends
familiarity by providing new opportunities for the kind of Sally S Stahl, AAMS® www.edwardjones.com
exchanges that form the basis of a friendship.” Financial Advisor M e m b P I S r e C
Participants in the study included 235 students (129 boys, 1851 W Indiantown Rd Ste 106
106 girls) in grades 3 to 5 (ages 8 to 11) who nominated friends Jupiter, FL 33458
at two time points (13 to 14 weeks apart). Children attended a 561-748-7600
public primary school in south Florida that reflected public school
students in the state in terms of ethnicity and family income.
For the study, teacher seating charts were used to calculate
three forms of proximity for each pair of students in a classroom.
Neighbor proximity described classmates seated directly beside
one another in a row or at a table, and those seated directly across Susan Has Moved To A
from one another at a table. Group proximity included classmates
identified as neighbors as well as those who were near neighbors;
the latter were either one seat away in the same row or diagonal New Location!
to one another at the same table. Findings for group proximity
were the most robust, suggesting that children are willing (and
able) to overlook their nearest neighbors in favor of those seated Androcles Hair Salon
close enough for sustained communication.
“Of course, students were not glued to their seats; interactions 4031 Hood Rd., Suite C-108
with far-seated peers undoubtedly occurred during lunch, recess Palm Beach Gardens, FL 33410
and (in some classes) free time activities,” said Laursen. “The fact
that new friends tended to emerge among the newly near-seated
– despite opportunities for engagement with other classmates – Susan
underscores the power of proximity in friendship formation.”
Classroom proximity assumes outsized importance during the
elementary school years because children this age have few other Swafford
sustained opportunities to meet (and engage with) friends and
because companionship is central to the definition of friendship.
It has long been known that most children report that most of 561-312-0457
their friends are in the same classroom. We now know that they
are probably seated nearby.
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