Depends on the subject matter at hand.

Interesting question - i think it does depend on the subject, age of the students etc. If students on one side need a quiet zone and the other side are doing a technical subject this might not be a good partnership. How the school itself is organised is very important e.g. are there break out areas, hot-classrooms where students in certain situations can have a class away from the normal class. More questions than answers, possibly!

Ideally, individualization of instruction might be the answer, but it is unrealistic in most schooling systems. Mixing different instructional styles, therefore, would probably be the next best solution. 

I would say it is not subject dependant but rather depends on what kind of teaching and learning you want to take place. Self contained classrooms are associated with didactic, pen and paper learning, while open classrooms are associated, at least in their inception  in British classrooms in the 1960s, with active and social learning. Open classrooms, especially in primary schools, allow for children to move, explore and interact with other children more freely and I would say may be better for children's well being, especially when you have children with special needs who feel restricted by a traditional classroom setting. They are also suitable fro multi-grade schools in remote and rural areas where you can have small number of children from each age in a different part of a large, open classroom. Of course, criticisms of open classrooms focus on discipline, noise, not being able to see what children are up to, etc... It certainly is a good model to consider for lower primary and multi-grade schools.

What do you mean by self-contained?  In New York state, and probably elsewhere, the term self-contained refers to students in special education settings that must be in specialized classes, with like students, away from the general education population, due to the severity of their disability/ies.  From the context of your question, I'm assuming that you are using the term self-contained to mean a classroom with walls and a door, rather than an open floor plan.  

I'll speak from my own experience.  I work in a k-8 school that was built during the 'open school' fad mania of the 60s.  It is simply an awful set up.  Over the years, walls have been built up to keep the classrooms separate and the noise level at a reasonable volume, but due to lack of infrastructure commitment from the district, open classroom still exist in grades 3-5.  It is a horrible set up for the students.  It is especially awful for students with attention issues and difficult for teachers that have students that bolt.  I say for k-8, it's simply a horrible, horrible set up.

I attended a school with an open classroom setting and it was so hard to concentrate in the pod due to the noise levels. I currently teach in a self-contained setting with one door open. The teachers have collaborative planning so we are all on the same page roughly in the curriculum but can teach according to our students learning styles.

I truly prefer the option to close the door during louder classroom activities. Even small groups doing projects can be too noisy in an open setting and learning is not a quiet activity in general.

The effectiveness is not in the space, though it is important, it is in my view, that the quality of the interacion among all the actors involved in the learning-teaching experience is the key. It is also fundamental the accompaniment strategies all along the learning path in both the classroom and the field. 

It depends on the student, subject, and availability. As a person and as a teacher I prefer an open-space classroom. I consider that through inclusion all people benefit and increase their tolerance and understanding of differences. We need to push more for social-emotional skills and this works better in inclusion classrooms. However, some students really might need and learn academic material better in a self-contained classroom. The question also is, what it is that we want to teach students? What do we want to focus on?

I think we need to differentiate between the meanings of "self contained." In my answer, it does not imply any type of cut off from anyone nor does it imply there are special needs students in the room. It merely means I can close the door as opposed to an open setting without walls or doors.

Hello, I think that both are effective, but if you are using conductism, maybe the classroom could be fine, but for constructivism, the oppen space could be a better opportinity for students discoveries. I use to melt both... in classroom, to catch concepts and discussions, open space for apply knowledge and do field research.

Antes de cualquier respuesta sería interesante definir ante que es la efectividad que se busca, ya que si asumimos que se busca una efectividad en el aprendizaje, comparto con Arturo Serrano-Santoyo que la efectividad no depende del contexto en el que uno se sitúe. Mucho más relevantes son las interacciones que se presentan en el acto de enseñar-aprender.

open space classrooms are something that Rabindranath Tagore (the nobel  laureautte) experimented and introduced way back in 1901 in Santiniketan, the basis of all modernist movements in art and education in India henceforth. The open floor plan is functional if we are dealing with a small group of students and the space is interesting and interactive. Also it has to be matched with the teaching pedagogy, otherwise it remains a gimmick like many of our present day alternative schools in India. 

Having worked with a special needs centre myself I agree with Lisa when she says that a closed environment is much better for students with attention issues. 

It is probably not so much the issue of the physical space as the quality of the teaching and learning that occurs within it. One would hope that  children have the benefit of best pedagogical practice.

I am going to go in a different direction with my response - I would suggest that it depends on the content and learning objectives of the lesson. It depends on the methodology you are using. It depends on the students, as is mentioned in the previous discussions on special needs and attention issues.

I prefer to focus more on what and how I am teaching than the environment. A well-designed program will take into account all factors, and will consider the space in which you are teaching.

Going back to the question of open or closed, I grew up learning in an open style school and had no problem with concentration. Both my children have ADHD and they need a more defined space such as a closed classroom, but they also need a variety of teaching methods. For them, the type of instructional activities is more important than where they sit. If they are engaged in the lesson, the location won't matter.