Aug 01, 2015
Kindergarten classrooms?
An ongoing study from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh found that too much stimuli may distract students from learning, according to research published in Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science. The study, called Visual Environment, Attention, Allocation, and Learning in Young Children: When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad, indicates that the typical vivid posters, colorful rugs, and bright embellishments of a Kindergarten classroom might have a negative impact on the students’ learning environment.
Psychology researchers Anna V. Fisher, Karrie E. Godwin and Howard Seltman looked at whether classroom displays affected children’s ability to maintain focus during instruction and to learn the lesson content. They found that children in highly decorated classrooms were more distracted, spent more time off-task, and demonstrated smaller learning gains than when the decorations were removed.
“Young children spend a lot of time — usually the whole day — in the same classroom, and we have shown that a classroom’s visual environment can affect how much children learn,” says Fisher, lead author and associate professor of psychology in the Dietrich College of Humanities and Social Sciences.
Ideal Learning Environment
Local school professionals do not see this type of classroom becoming the norm and feel more research needs to be completed before such drastic changes occur and Fisher concurs. “We do not suggest by any means that this is the answer to all educational problems. Furthermore, additional research is needed to know what effect the classroom visual environment has on children’s attention and learning in real classrooms,” says Fisher.
“Therefore, I would suggest that instead of removing all decorations, teachers should consider whether some of their visual displays may be distracting to young children.”
Julie Parsons, School Readiness Project Manager for Kern County Superintendent of Schools (KCSOS), says when she trains pre-school and transitional kindergarten teachers on classroom principles, she would not recommend them having a toned-down classroom. She wants them to focus on choices for learning opportunities.
“Environment is critically important for children. The children need to be moving and having choices that are intentional and purposeful as to what the teacher wants to accomplish,” she says. “When children sit still for long periods of time is where more of the distraction would come from than beautiful artwork on the wall.”
Parsons encourages her teachers to have things in the room and to change them during the school year to build upon the students’ interests. “Science should be everywhere,” says Parsons. “Children like to see their artwork displayed. They want to see their success.”
Different Needs for Different Students
Every child comes to Kindergarten or Transitional Kindergarten (T-K) with a different set of skills and learning needs. Parsons says some four year olds start T-K being able to write their names while other kids the same age have never even held a pencil.
“Every child is different with a different set of experiences and opportunities. We need to be meeting the needs of the total child,” she says. “Developmentally they are not ready to focus for long periods of time so teachers need to create opportunities for them to engage and play and explore – that’s where the learning comes from.”
Local Kindergarten teacher at Suburu Elementary, Jennifer Wolff, says Kindergarten is a “magical” experience. “The kids are entering a whole new social structure. We are teaching them how to be at school,” she says.
Wolff says it’s not just the visual environment that distracts the students at this age. “They can be distracted by friends – what their neighbors are doing. In fact, the first part of the year, I have to keep my blinds shut because someone walking by the window will distract them,” she says. “Truly a big part with younger kids is classroom management and bulletin boards can be part of that. So, you have to make sure what you’re planning for the day fits their attention span and their development.”
Finding a Balance
Parsons has been in classrooms where too much has been going on for children to experience optimal learning. She says some things that can be distracting include an unorganized classroom, continual music playing, or a “Focus Wall” with too much stimuli cluttered on it.
Experts agree the best learning environment is about having balance, being structured, and creating a routine. Parsons teaches her teachers that learning tools need to be organized, have picture labels attached to the outside of containers, and place them at a level where the students can take care of them by themselves.
“It’s more about organization and being minimal about things but still meeting the needs of the children,” she says. “We are not only teaching academics but they are learning how to take responsibility, make friends, work in a group, and even tie their own shoes.”
Wolff says she tries to strike a balance in her classroom by keeping things interesting while not distracting. “I don’t like having too much and I do think there is such a thing as too much,” she says. “I try to make my room a learning tool. Everything has a purpose and everything has a learning objective.”
“Kids’ brains react to novelty and we have to make it visually exciting to the kids,” she says. “But, we can have it too visual and have it distracting; but, you also have to have that hook to catch their attention.”
The Future
Wolff says teaching is an art and requires personal attention. “We have to take something boring and make it exciting – sometimes it’s visual, sometimes it’s hands-on. There is both a science in teaching and an art form in teaching. We have to find the balance in that,” she says. “We can take into account these [research] studies, but the teachers have the experience and they know what works for their kids. You can’t discount the art in teaching.”
The researchers hope these findings lead to further studies to develop guidelines that help teachers optimally design classrooms. As Parsons says, “The ultimate goal is we want children to like school.”
For more information, please visit www.psychologicalscience.org.
