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How Classroom Environments Impact Student Learning

by Bekah Shirin

The Purpose

Purpose

There are a few places I frequently visit that fill me with a sense of comfort, warmth and home. In these places, I feel safe to try new things, step out of my comfort zone and learn something new. This made me wonder how our classrooms facilitate an environment full of safety and security for our students. On average, I spend 45 hours a week in my classroom. Student also spend less time at home than they do in a classroom more time in school than in any other indoor environment outside the home (Mendell & Heath, 2004). Compared to the hours I am awake at home, I spend more time at school than I do at home. Because of this, my classroom begins to feel more like my home. This realization made me wonder if my students feel like they are at home in my classroom and if that feeling leads to increased engagement. Asking this question lit a curiosity within me.

The Problem

The Problem Statement

Lack of guidance and easy-to-access resources to help teachers create a learning environment that supports student engagement and learning.

Research Questions

Research

• What elements of classroom layout and design could increase student engagement and learning?

• How could the integration of household plants in a classroom impact my students retention and test scores?

• How does classroom layout and design effect my students performance?

Literature Reviews

“Green Walls for a Restorative Classroom Environment:

A Controlled Evaluation Study”

“Required Changes in a Classroom Environment:

It's a Matter of Design."

Literature Reviews

"Visual Environment, Attention Allocation, and Learning in Young Children: When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad"

Students who learn in classrooms that face outdoor space or have plants in their classroom have higher attention, lower stress and increased retention.

A child's ability to focus on a lesson decreases as the stimuli in the classroom increases. The brighter the colors and the more surface area of a wall that is covered leads to more distractions in students.

Classrooms that focus on naturalness (any link to nature including light, sound and temperature), individualization and stimulation (how complex is the decorating and color choice) have increased times of students being on task.

METHODOLOGY

Methodology

- Observations

- Formative Research

- Naturalistic Approach

- Interviews

- Surveys

Data Collection

Classroom Observation Form

Data

Sample Questions

Surveys & Interviews

- What three words would you use to describe your classroom in terms of decoration, layout and style?

- On a scale from 1-10 with 1 being consistently and 10 being rarely, how often do you

find yourself distracted in class?

- What is your favorite part of your classroom?

- What is the purpose for your classroom design?

-What is one thing you would change about your classroom?

Summary of Data

Next Steps

The first data I collected was through classroom observations and completing an observation form. Part of the observation was looking at what items each teacher had in their classroom. I sorted those items into ones that benefit students and ones that hinder students in the classroom. Overall, many of the teachers had a few of the key elements that help benefit student learning (inspirational quotes, natural lights and some sort of plant, whether fake or real). However, even with those items, many teachers had a plethora of classroom design items that hinder student learning such as over decorated walls, cluttered surfaces, too many bright colors and primary light sources coming from florescent lights. In the classrooms where the main classroom design was simple, organized and neutral in colors, students had more on task time than in the classrooms with cluttered, overly colored walls and surfaces.

Next Steps

References

Next Steps

Conduct surveys, observations and interviews at different types of schools (Title 1, High School...)

Provide professional development sessions for teachers that focuses on classroom design.

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