Classroom Design Affects Student Learning (Design Thinking)

Study Shows How Classroom Design Affects Student Learning

A NEW STUDY SHOWS HOW COLOR, LIGHTING, AND OTHER CLASSROOM DESIGN CHOICES CAN HAVE A HUGE IMPACT ON STUDENT PROGRESS.

As debate over education reform sizzles, and as teachers valiantly continue trying to do more with less, a new study suggests that it might be worth diverting at least a little attention from what’s going on in classrooms to how those spaces are being designed. The paper, published in the journalBuilding and the Environment, found that classroom design could be attributed to a 25% impact, positive or negative, on a student’s progress over the course of an academic year. The difference between the best- and worst-designed classrooms covered in the study? A full year’s worth of academic progress.

The study was conducted over the 2011–12 academic year, with 751 students in 34 classrooms, spread across seven primary schools in the seaside town of Blackpool, England. After collecting data on the students’ performance levels going into the school year, the researchers, comprising faculty from the University of Salford School of the Built Environment, in Manchester, England, as well as collaborators from the architecture firm Nightingale Associates, ranked each classroom on a 1 to 5 scale for 10 different design parameters: light, sound, temperature, air quality, choice, flexibility, connection, complexity, color, and texture. Each of these parameters were broken down into a few considerations. Light, for example, included the amount of natural light entering the classroom, as well as the teacher’s ability to manually control the level of lighting; flexibility took into consideration how well a given classroom could accommodate pupils without crowding them, in addition to how easily its furniture could be rearranged for a variety of activities and teaching approaches.

There is, of course, the matter of the teacher, though the paper points out that the multilevel statistical model used to crunch the data, which looks at the correlation between the variables and student progress across classrooms, actually buffers against their influence to a large extent.

So what did they find? Six of the design parameters--color, choice, complexity, flexibility, connection, and light--had a significant effect on learning. Light, as mentioned above, concerns the amount of natural light in the classroom and the quality of the electrical lights it contains. Choice has to do with the quality of the furniture in the classroom, as well as providing "interesting" and ergonomic tables and chairs for pupils. Complexity and color both have to do with providing an ample amount of visual stimulation for students in the classroom.

Professor Peter Barrett, the paper’s lead author, explained the significance in a statement accompanying its publication: "It has long been known that various aspects of the built environment impact on people in buildings, but this is the first time a holistic assessment has been made that successfully links the overall impact directly to learning rates in schools. The impact identified is in fact greater than we imagined and the Salford team is looking forward to building on these clear results.” With the success of the pilot phase, the researchers have found funds to continue the study, and over the next 18 months they’ll track student progress in 20 additional classrooms around the U.K.

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Study proves classroom design really does matter

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In a pilot study by the University of Salford and architects, Nightingale Associates, it was found that the classroom environment can affect a child’s academic progress over a year by as much as 25%.

The year-long pilot study was carried out in seven Blackpool LEA primary schools. 34 classrooms with differing learning environments and age groups took part.

The study took two lines of enquiry. The first was to collect data from 751 pupils, such as their age, gender and performance level in maths, reading and writing at the start and end of an academic year.

The second evaluated the holistic classroom environment, taking into account different design parameters such as classroom orientation, natural light and noise, temperature and air quality. Other issues such as flexibility of space, storage facilities and organisation, as well as use of colour were evaluated.

This holistic assessment includes both classroom design and use factors to identify what constitutes an effective learning environment.

Notably, 73% of the variation in pupil performance driven at the class level can be explained by the building environment factors measured in this study.

Current findings suggest that placing an average pupil in the least effective, rather than the most effective classroom environment could affect their learning progress by as much as the average improvement across one year.

Professor Peter Barrett, School of the Built Environment, University of Salford said: “It has long been known that various aspects of the built environment impact on people in buildings, but this is the first time a holistic assessment has been made that successfully links the overall impact directly to learning rates in schools. The impact identified is in fact greater than we imagined and the Salford team is looking forward to building on these clear results.”

The pilot study was commissioned by THiNK, the research and development team at Nightingale Associates. The practice will use these initial findings to inform their designs and work with schools undertaking refurbishment or build new projects to maximise their investment in the learning environment.

Design Research Lead, Caroline Paradise from Nightingale Associates, said: “We are excited by these early findings which suggest that the classroom plays an important role in pupil performance. This will support designers and educators in targeting investment in school buildings to where it will have the most impact, whether new build or refurbishment.”

Through these promising findings, the study will continue for another 18 months and cover another 20 schools in different areas of the UK. This study is being funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council(EPSRC).

The findings are in reference to a study sample of 751 pupils in Blackpool LEA. Pupil performance was measured against statistics for all the participants and all data captured maintained pupil anonymity.

The study took place over one academic year, between September 2011 and June 2012.

The results have been accepted in an international peer reviewed journal: the permanent link is http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.buildenv.2012.09.016[P.S.Barrett, Y. Zhang, J. Moffat and K.Kobbacy (2012). "An holistic, multi-level analysis identifying the impact of classroom design on pupils' learning."Building and Environment.]