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The classroom environment has an impact on learning!
The classroom environment has an impact on learning!
Research has shown that an engaged learning environment increases students' attention and focus, promotes meaningful learning experiences, encourages higher levels of student performance, and motivates students to practice higher-level critical thinking skills.
Several factors can affect learning ability, including seating, light, noise, and even colour. Students who study in a positive learning environment have been shown to be more motivated, engaged, and have a higher overall learning ability.
Reduce visual clutter
Reduce visual clutter
With so much that needs to fit into the classroom space – supplies, resources, furniture, technology, information, inspiration — how can you design a classroom where students can focus and engage?
People often focus on what’s on the classroom floor, i.e., the furniture. If you think about the furnishings but ignore the walls, you’re missing a huge consideration: What do we decide to put on the walls? What do we decide not to put on the walls? And how do we change that over the course of the school year?
Why can a visually cluttered classroom be a problem?
Why can a visually cluttered classroom be a problem?
The research tells us that our students live in a visually noisy world, whether that’s on their screens, in marketing or advertising, on television. And our classrooms can feed this cycle of inattention – unless we’re very thoughtful about what we put in the room.
Less visual noise is better for all students, but here’s a subset of students who are more impacted by it, especially students who have various types of neurodiversity (e.g. ADHD, autism, anxiety, learning disability).
Classroom environment is cluttered:
TOP TIPS for the classroom
TOP TIPS for the classroom
The front of the room is often the most cluttered place in the classroom. It’s the place where students’ eyes are, most of the time. So, one of the things you can do, if you’re going to put things up on the walls, is to ask yourself whether you can lighten that front wall and move more of the background knowledge to the back of the room.
Continually assess what you really need to have on the walls for learning to be effective or for students to feel like they belong or they’re cared about.
Take the time to ask students, every week or two: “What is working for you in the room? What is getting in the way?” Think of design as dynamic and not static: “I am continually designing the room,” rather than “I designed the room.”
Think about “expiration dates.” As soon as you put something up on the wall, can you decide when you’re going to rethink whether it needs to be up – the end of the quarter? The end of the semester? Being intentional about what’s up on the wall is a good strategy.
Color coherence. I know that teachers can’t just go buy everything in the same color, but they can at least be aware of the color palette in the room. Can you avoid having every color in the rainbow and instead choose a primary color and a couple of accent colors? Thinking this way can assist in cutting down on visual clutter.
Some student may be more distracted by anything that is moving in their visual field - limit the amount of crafts or artwork that dangles from ceilings.
When your visual display (Smartboard) in the classroom isn’t being used for instruction, either turn it off or turn it into something that can reduce stress. For example, a crackling fire in the winter, or pictures of nature, which we know help to reduce student stress.
Think of ways to arrange student seating so that it decreases classroom clutter and prevents a sense of overwhelm. Try to be thoughtful about traffic patterns in the room. Think about a traffic jam – that’s a form of clutter. Where do kids have to go to get out the door to go to the bathroom? Where do kids go to get supplies? Where do students go to gather in a small group? Do we make it easy for that to happen? Every time students have to wait to get somewhere, or they get distracted by talking to one of their classmates, we’re also losing instructional time.
Consider using light filters or covers to help with harsh fluorescent ceiling lights. When/ if possible, turn off the lights and use the natural light from windows.
Clearly label storage - everything has a place and everything in its place!
Hide distracting materials in cupboards or cover shelves with curtains.
TOP TIPS for individual students
TOP TIPS for individual students
Allow student to wear a hoodie or a ball cap to help reduce visual overwhelm from their peripheral vision.
Provide a study carrel to decrease visual distractions during focused work time.
To reduce visual distractions, face a student desk towards the wall (only after chatting to the student and getting their OK). It might work well to have 2 desks for some students (or a few alternative desks for any student to use) - a desk for learning, socializing and to feel a sense of belonging and a desk with minimal distractions to focus, aka a 'study spot'.
Try the virtual calm space with calming sounds, images and activities
Try the virtual calm space with calming sounds, images and activities
Reduce noise
Reduce noise
What we hear, this is known as our auditory sense. Auditory defensiveness is considered extreme sensitivity to sound. This includes sounds which are not particularly disturbing or distressing to most people. These may be specifically high frequency sounds, low frequency sounds, or both high and low frequency sounds. When children are oversensitive to sound, it results in fear, anxiety, and at times avoidance of the activities that most other children enjoy participating in. A child who has auditory defensiveness, when faced with the sound, might typically cover their ears and show signs of distress - or might begin to cry.
Typically distressing sounds include the noise made by power tools, hair or hand dryers, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers, thunder and fireworks. Whilst some individuals are sensitive only to loud sudden noises, such as fire drills, others can be sensitive to noises that others easily screen out, such as the background noises of machines (e.g. fans, fluorescent lights, computers, ticking clocks, etc.) or certain pitch or volume of voices.
TOP TIPS to help keep classroom noise level under control:
TOP TIPS to help keep classroom noise level under control:
Use a soft, calm voice right before students go off to work independently. When you're getting students ready for centers or any other kind of independent work, remind them of expectations—and use a very soft, calm voice to do so. You can even try to whisper the last instruction.
Assign a noise level monitor or a group leader for each group. If you have your students work in center groups, choose one student to be the leader. The leader can be responsible for monitoring the noise level of the group members.
Teach students a quick clapping pattern to remind them that the noise level is too high.
Use a classroom noise meter.
If you find that having a student work with their peers just isn't working right now, consider modifying the type of work you assign. As much as we love partner games and group activities, sometimes a student (or students) just need to master working by themselves first. And that’s okay!
Use a classroom noise meter -visual or high tech:
Manage sound levels in your classroom using your computer/ smartboard mic!
Use rugs and/or curtains in a room to improve the acoustics of a room and decrease the echo, loudness of and extraneous noise. Always talk to your school administration and ensure rugs are not a tripping hazard.
Place soft tips on the bottom of chair and tables: Chairs and tables are moved around frequently in the classroom, causing unnecessary noise. Adding soft tips to the bottoms of furniture can decrease this noise significantly.
Close doors and windows: The world is noisy, and although we can’t control all of the outside distractions, we can limit their impact on the noise in the classroom by closing doors and windows when possible.
Fidget toys, stress balls and squeezable objects/ toys can compete with external stimuli.
Be aware of low level background noises eg. Ticking clocks. Adapt or remove where possible.
Have a quiet space that the child can go to if they feel the need to remove themselves from the situation. See quiet classroom zone.
TOP TIPS for individual students
TOP TIPS for individual students
Prepare child for any loud noises which can be predicted. Whenever possible, give the child a verbal or visual warning before loud sounds occur (such as lawn mower, fire alarm drill)
Reassure the child that the noise isn’t going to hurt them. Explain and discuss the source of the noise to increase the child’s understanding.
Use head-phones, ear-muffs or ear-plugs to decrease level of sound.
Some younger children might be fine just holding their hands over their ears, if they are motivated enough to stay for a "noisy" event. Encourage physical activities such as pulling, pushing against a resistance throughout the day. Hugs from others and self. Firm pressure down through the shoulders can also be calming. Trial these techniques before and after a noisy event as this is calming and organizing.
Listening to music (e.g. classical music) through headphones to help drown out environmental noise may help your child to stay better focused on an activity. When possible, allow child control of the equipment/ volume.
Chew gum, suck on sports water-bottle or sour candy, eat chewy or crunchy foods to help increase concentration in noisy environment.
Consider preferential seating at front of classroom or away from distractions.
Children with auditory defensiveness may benefit from one-to-one teaching.
Allow student to wear a hat or hoodie over head if it helps with auditory sensitivity.
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