COMPARISONS OF LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS 185 Learning Environments Research 5: 185–202, 2002. © 2002 Kluwer Academic Publishers. Printed in the Netherlands. EILEEN CARLTON PARSONS USING COMPARISONS OF MULTIAGE LEARNING ENVIRONMENTS TO UNDERSTAND TWO TEACHERS’ DEMOCRATIC EDUCATIONAL AIMS Received 1 September 2000; accepted (in revised form) 13 February 2002 ABSTRACT. Several decades of research detail the nature and the relevance of learning environments in the education of children. This inquiry builds upon this earlier work and addresses the following question: What insights can be gained from using the classroom environment in understanding the declared democratic intent of two elementary school teachers? Descriptive profiles of two Grade 4/5 classrooms experienced by the same nine- and ten-year-olds during the 1998–1999 academic year were derived from qualitative data that included observational field notes, verbatim transcripts, classroom photographs, and written responses from the teacher participants. The profiles were used in illuminating the teachers’ aims to prepare children to participate in and contribute to American dem- ocracy. Via the examination of the teachers’ uses of the physical environment, their management of the classroom, and their uses of authority, two distinct conceptions of de- mocracy and democratic citizenship emerged. KEY WORDS: authority, democratic education, elementary classrooms, learning envir- onments, qualitative methods Liberty: First and foremost the purpose of an education is to make you a positive and productive citizen, someone who can be a part of society and be successful in society. (Interview, September 1998) Captain: . . . It should be the goals of schools to focus on liberating people from ignor- ance . . . not meaning dumb but meaning uninformed and to give people an intelligence so that they can contribute to society . . . . not only work but also participate in a democracy so that they make informed decisions and can help to resolve problems that face our world. (Interview, September 1998) The quotes of Liberty and Captain 1 provide a glimpse into their educational intents as teachers and acknowledge socialization, the development of children into social beings who participate in society, as an aim of educa- tion. In the mid-1600s, when schooling was made compulsory in America, the socialization of children was purposefully targeted by the curriculum and instruction. Today, in the morass of high-stakes testing and the all- encompassing emphasis upon academic achievement, socialization is masked but nonetheless occurs incidentally and primarily through the classroom environment (Hepburn & Radz, 1983).