Did you know that your study environment plays a massive role in your learning, and modifying your space's physical attributes can result in much more effective learning?
There are several theories on how people evaluate their environments, how their cognition is affected by physical surroundings, and many other aspects. Studies prove that the features possessed by the environment a person inhabits can have a remarkable sensory impact on them. More specifically, researchers of the University of Salford found that the naturalness design principle — light, temperature, and air quality — accounts for around 50% of the efficacy of learning and knowledge persistence.
Distractions, lack of motivation, and concentration are among some of the most significant challenges students face worldwide today, in the era of online schooling during the covid pandemic. A proper study environment can help eradicate these problems to a high degree and add to better retention of information. Here are four parameters that can be altered to achieve an optimal workspace for effective learning.
Light
An adequate supply of light is vital to keep the brain awake and sustain focus. Natural light from the sun is the best option as far as light sources go. That’s according to a rigorous study carried out involving 21,000 students. The study concluded that 'classrooms with more natural light scored as much as 25 percent higher on standardized tests than other students in the same school district,' as prolonged exposure to low-quality electric bulbs causes headaches and impairs visual performances.
Moving your study table next to a window that receives proper light or to a room with broader windows can be a good step to staging an appropriate learning atmosphere. If access to natural light is somehow limited, full-spectrum fluorescent lamps with ultraviolet supplements can be installed instead for a better focus.
Air quality
Another way to help keep the mind awake is a healthy supply of fresh air. The study carried out by the University of Salford found out that 'factors affecting the CO2 are correlated with the learning progress,' and each pupil tracked in the study performed better in a well-ventilated classroom. Lower levels of oxygen can be one of the reasons students lack mental attention when studying at home.
Proper ventilation can be achieved simply by opening all the windows in the room where you’ll be studying and airing it out for a few minutes. High levels of oxygen also increase alertness and help in getting rid of dizziness.
Acoustics
External and internal noise is a huge cause of distraction that also deteriorates the student's mental health. Noise undermines reading, writing, comprehension skills, and overall academic performance, as noise makes it hard to focus on the task being performed (DiSarno et al., 2002).
Whether they’re due to the cars honking outside or chattering in the adjacent room, choosing a time slot when your place's noise level decreases to a minimum and communicating with members of your household can help solve your issue and create a quiet place suitable for studying. If all else fails, noise-canceling earphones or even simple earplugs can provide extra sound insulation.
Complexity
Spending some time clearing the clusters in your workspace and putting away the decoration pieces that distracts you when you study can help improve study time. The same research by the University of Salford reported that “learning scores were higher in sparse-classrooms than in decorated classrooms.”
Another study from Lund University revealed that more enclosed spaces lead to increased cortisol, the stress hormone. To avoid such stress, large rooms with high ceilings are ideal. They activate a network of structures in the brain that underlie visuospatial exploration or attention for better learning.
But since larger rooms aren’t available to everyone, students can make a somewhat cramped study space appear larger by installing mirrors in it, in which case, the bigger, the better. Basically, this trick creates the illusion of a room that extends into the reflection in the glass.
Our primary goal in setting up an optimum workspace is to make sure that our brain doesn’t work too hard against the environment in keeping up on a task. Finding or recreating the most suitable space may take some effort and time, but it’s worth it if we aim to stay focused and motivated in trying to be our best version.
Sources
Barrett, Peter & Davies, Fay & Zhang, Yufan & Barrett, Lucinda. (2015). The impact of classroom design on pupils’ learning: Final results of a holistic, multi-level analysis. Building and Environment. 59. 10.1016/j.buildenv.2015.02.013.
Fich, Lars & Jönsson, Peter & Kirkegaard, Poul & Wallergård, Mattias & Garde, Anne & Hansen, Åse Marie. (2014). Can Architectural design alter the physiological reaction to psychosocial stress? A virtual TSST experiment.. Physiology & behavior. 135. 10.1016/j.physbeh.2014.05.034.
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