Why Classroom Design Matters

Learn how wall color and lighting can have a huge impact on your students’ success.

You don’t have to be a feng shui expert to know the effects your environment can have on your state of mind. A messy, cluttered house can cause stress and anxiety. Why would it be any different for your class space?
Well, turns out it’s the same principles do apply, and the implications are huge.
New research the University of Salford found well-designed classrooms can improve elementary school learning by 16 percent in a single year. The study surveyed 153 classrooms from 27 different schools, analyzing for naturalness (temperature and air quality), individualization (ownership and flexibility) and stimulation (complexity and color).
“It is estimated that the impact of moving an ‘average’ child from the least effective to the most effective space would be around 1.3 sub-levels, a big impact when pupils typically make 2 sub-levels progress a year,” researchers found. They also noted that size and facilities had less impact than the actual classroom design, as classrooms within the same school had vastly different outcomes.
So what does this mean for teachers? “The suggestions included show that small changes, costing very little or nothing, can make a real difference. For example, changing the layout of the room, the choices of display, or color of the walls.”

Have tips for decorating your classroom? We want to hear them!