Here again the various research studies over the years have reached some consensus. Smaller classes do lead to a more positive attitude toward the subject matter of the course. Students tend to be the most upset when confronted with larger classes in their majors. Students tolerate larger classes for general education courses, elective courses, or prerequisite courses in other disciplines more readily. Students definitely expect smaller classes in their major and express dissatisfaction if they do not get them.
Larger classes appeal less to students with higher GPAs.
Better students seem to desire the positive impacts of smaller classes on the development of higher order cognitive skills. The reason that students in general viewed larger classes less favorably than smaller classes was the perceived lack of faculty-student interaction in the larger classes and the deleterious impact on student motivation inherent in large classes. Fortunately, the consensus in the literature on class size and student evaluations provides a good deal of comfort to faculty who teach the larger classes and have their students evaluate faculty teaching. Research consistently indicates that class size does not affect student evaluations of faculty in any significant manner. Students tend to minimize the impact of general course-related characteristics when evaluating faculty teaching effectiveness.