Situated Learning

The whole idea of situated meaning and learning is that students take their interests, values, goals, and sociocultural background to help evaluate and understand a new concept or idea. If a teacher is trying to present a new topic to a student, the student is going to fall back on their experience and previous knowledge to help filter through the new information. I think this is why classroom structure, for the most part, is always about the same. There are usually desks and chairs, a teacher in the front, and either a movie, lecture, small group activity, or class discussion. This common structure is probably the most effective for students have adapted and become use to this way of learning. If students came into class and had to sit on the floor, face backwards, and do an odd activity, it would be out of their past experience. Of course, the new experience would be different from what they were use to, so it may stand out and stay in the student's mind in that respect, but the student would struggle to associate it with their past.
Teachers have to be aware of their students' past experiences and not assume a discussion or reading will have a particular kind of reaction.