Episode 126: Transforming Learning Environments with the Power of Color

Could the colors around us actually shape the way we learn? Join me as I explore the transformative power of color and lighting in K-12 educational spaces. Discover how the warmth of Peach Fuzz, the 2024 Pantone Color of the Year, can energize creativity and why a splash of blue or green might just be the secret to a more focused classroom environment. You'll uncover the fascinating parallels between the strategic use of colors in fast food restaurants and classrooms, and how both can significantly influence mood and behavior. By understanding the "silent curriculum" of our surroundings, we can create vibrant learning spaces that not only accommodate but also enhance various sensory needs.

In this episode, I share personal anecdotes and research that reveal how colors affect student engagement and emotional development. Imagine classrooms where students thrive because their environment is as thoughtfully designed as the lessons themselves. By involving students in the color selection process, we open the doors to a more positive and collaborative learning experience. From practical tips on optimizing classroom hues to stories of children choosing their own room colors, this discussion equips you with actionable steps to enhance educational outcomes. Don't forget to visit the podcast website to share your thoughts and become part of this colorful conversation!

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Chapters

• 0:55 Color Impact in Education Learning Spaces
• 17:46 Optimizing Classroom Colors for Learning
• 25:03 Color Impact in K-12 Education

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:56

Welcome to another episode of K-12 Education Untangled. My name is Dr Kim J Fields, former corporate manager turned education researcher and advocate, and I'm the host of this podcast. I got into this space after dealing with some frustrating interactions with school educators and administrators, as well as experiencing the microaggressions that I faced as an African American mom raising my two kids, who were in the public school system. I really wanted to understand how teachers were trained and what the research provided about the challenges of the public education system. Once I gained the information and the insights that I needed, I was then equipped to be able to successfully support my children in their education and progress. This battle-tested experience is what I provide as action steps for you to take. It's like enjoying a bowl of educational research with a sprinkling of mother wisdom on top. If you're looking to find out more about current information and issues in public education that could affect you and your children, and the action steps that you can take to give your children the advantages they need, then you're in the right place. Thanks for tuning in today. I know that staying informed about K-12 public education trends and topics is important to you, so keep listening. In this episode, I'll be discussing how vibrant and engaging learning spaces impact students' mood and behavior. Did you realize that fast food restaurants used warm, bright colors to stimulate appetite and the perception of noise? Think about it. This is how they increased sales due to the fast turnover. Color of an interior space is an important variable in business and in education. Does the color scheme in a room really make a difference in your mood? The research tends to support this. You know that when you walk into a sunny yellow kitchen that you feel more energized, or when you walk into a living space that has some shade of blue in the color scheme that you feel more relaxed. There's something to this. Even in classroom settings, schools are moving away from neutral color schemes in learning spaces. I discussed the importance of something you may not have thought much about. I discussed the importance of something you may not have thought much about, and that is color in K-12 public education learning spaces.

Speaker 1: 3:57

In this episode, let's untangle this. The trend now in the color schemes of many classrooms leans toward vibrant and colorful environments filled with pattern and texture. These more lively environments have a profound impact on student mood and behavior, which fosters motivation and well-being. Since 2024, schools have begun utilizing more vibrant design ideas to cultivate an environment where creativity thrives and students feel engaged and energetic. The 2024 Pantone Color of the Year, peach Buzz, is a step in this direction, bridging the gap between neutrals and vibrant colors. As we enter the second half of this decade, classroom learning spaces will consist of warm, bright and energetic colors like peach fuzz. That's a pretty cool name, isn't it? Anyway, with all of the shifts that have happened in education since the pandemic, it's critical that schools focus on creating fresh learning environments. By incorporating vibrant designs, schools can revive the perception of learning spaces and create spaces that make students and educators feel comfortable, invoke inspiration, promote collaboration and infuse energy into learning. Additionally, learning spaces that are more visually stimulating benefit students who have differing sensory needs, helping them to stay engaged in the content in the classroom.

Speaker 1: 5:43

Students actually do pay attention to the surroundings where they spend their school day. There are several structural and environmental factors that contribute to student success. These factors include floor space, ceiling height, amount of windows, light fixtures, temperature control, air quality, cleanliness, air conditioning, safety, noise level, view of the environment and color of classroom walls. The focus of this episode is about classroom wall colors. I also touch a little bit about classroom lighting. Learning space designers find that a focal point in the classroom is best identified through the use of one medium tone of blue, brown or gray with the neutral surrounding. Younger children, however, like bright colors because they contribute to less eye strain and increase attention span. Less eye strain and increased attention span. A feature wall with the bright color enhances learning, and sections of color on the floor, desk and chairs can complement the walls. Dark colors like black and gray tend to lead to negative feelings for students, so these are the least preferred colors for them. For kindergartners, they prefer their surroundings to not include the colors of black, brown or white for desks and other furnishings. White walls, which are seen in many classrooms, result in an under-stimulation and leads to restlessness and loss of concentration. The physical environment of a classroom has been referred to as the silent curriculum, because understanding the physical environment is essential to the education of children. The physical environment of the classroom has the power to facilitate and enhance the learning process, similar to the ways the content curriculum enhances the learning process.

Speaker 1: 8:00

The interior environment of an educational facility significantly influences learning mood and behavior of the students that occupy that facility. Using different colors and lighting within the learning space can profoundly alter its overall perception, which impacts how individuals feel within that environment. Color and lighting can evoke a range of emotions, including calm and relaxed to energetic and exciting. If colors and lighting can influence mood and behavior, this could have significant implications for the design of learning spaces. The impact of color on mood, behavior and performance impacts students from as young as four years old to college students. Even the color of lighting can affect the responsiveness of the brain, especially in young children. It plays a factor in influencing their learning performance. Young children are highly attuned to color and light as the primary physical variables that impact their visual and sensory experiences. Color significantly influences children's moods, mental clarity and energy levels. Children seem to be naturally drawn to colors resembling nature and human skin tones. However, primary colors are generally prevalent in children's environment, despite outdated perceptions of their effects. A diverse palette incorporating different shades, tones, patterns and saturation levels creates a stimulating learning environment. The goal is to stabilize color stimulation to the extent that learning performance is enhanced and positive emotions and perceptions are evoked.

Speaker 1: 9:53

Research indicates that light significantly impacts elementary school students' progress in writing and math and beyond academic performance. It plays a role in the emotional states during child development. It's important that classroom lighting has the appropriate correlated color temperature to promote student well-being and behavior, as well as promote academic success. Although there are no architectural codes and standards currently that specify a correlated color temperature level for classroom lighting, most public school classrooms in this country have fluorescent lighting fixtures and they are used primarily because of their low price point and energy efficiency. Having varied temperatures of white light coupled with specific colored walls impacts students' concentration and academic performance. For example, a blue-colored wall with a cool daylight lamp-colored temperature produces a calming effect, while an orange-colored wall with the same temperature of light increases concentration levels. Color-filtered lighting affects children's moods, especially purple-colored filtered lighting as particularly effective in producing the highest level of energy and pleasantness. Color perception and temperature are influenced by lighting. Changing light and wall colors to suit specific emotional states poses a challenge in American school classrooms because schools are dealing with budget constraints that often limit updates to fluorescent lighting fixtures for extended periods of time.

Speaker 1: 11:41

Colors used in an interior space are often a visual expression of a person's mental state, emotions and character, culture, age, gender, development level and a certain topic. Development level and a certain topic and the activities associated with that topic all have different and direct impact on moods, emotions, behaviors and performances of individual students. The low or high vibrational energies of color affect the physical, emotional and mental reactions of students who occupy a learning space. Some colors have a stimulating effect on students, while other colors have a calming effect. The child's brain connections aren't really completed by the age of five or six, and he or she needs another year to mature. Therefore, a child will employ visual materials to communicate with the environment. In this case, colors become one of the most effective means of communication for young children.

Speaker 1: 13:43

Color is classified according to temperature. Half of the color wheel is classified as warm and the other half as cool. Half of the color wheel is classified as warm and the other half as cool. Warm colors are colors that exist in the red range increase joy, creativity and energy. On the other hand, cool colors, such as those in the blue range, create comfort and relaxation. Comfort and relaxation.

Speaker 1: 14:17

Choosing the appropriate color as a design element in a learning space can produce profound psychological and physiological reactions, especially for learners with disabilities who are in the general education classroom. Some students, like those with ADHD and autism spectrum disorders, may be more sensitive to color in learning environments due to heightened sensory responses and strong visual processing abilities. It's important that school administrators and teachers understand the ways that color affects student behavior. Therefore, a carefully and thoughtfully planned physical environment will enhance the psychological comfort of the most sensitive students by identifying and eliminating detrimental sensory impacts. Required for two students to pass each other without touching can play a major role in behavior and learning in the classroom, as well as the selection of materials and finishes. Interestingly, research is inconsistent in determining the optimal color choices in learning environments.

Speaker 1: 15:28

Quantity of color is something that should also be considered in the design of a physical learning space. Large amounts of color can overstimulate students, no matter the color temperature or preference. Too much color, motion or pattern is distracting and makes for a stressful learning environment. In one research study, the effects of color and light were explored on learning for six-year-old students. Off-task behaviors and blood pressure were measured in two environmental conditions. The first classroom had white walls and cool white fluorescent lights. A second classroom had modified light, blue walls and full spectrum lights. The findings showed that off-task behaviors decreased by 22% in the modified room and blood pressure readings showed a 9% reduction in that same classroom.

Speaker 1: 16:31

Why is a discussion about the color scheme of a learning space warranted? Well, proper application of color in the classroom has become more important due to the move toward inclusion in public schools in this country, new demands have been put in place on academic spaces because the increase in the prevalence of students with learning disabilities and many students with disabilities are more sensitive to color within the classroom Worth noting is that an under-stimulating environment may be as harmful as one that is over-stimulating. The key is that balance is needed in color applications for the classroom. There are six recommendations for including color, according to the research, that may apply to every classroom, whether or not students with disabilities are present. One although teachers may have little control over wall, floor and ceiling colors in the classroom, a warm, neutral color scheme of tan or sand would be a desirable foundation for classroom design would be a desirable foundation for classroom design.

Speaker 1: 17:47

Teachers need to be aware that color within the classroom has an effect on student mood, behavior and performance. Two the wall that students focus on when looking up from their work should be a medium hue in the same color range. Blue or green seem to work well. Three strong or primary colors should be avoided. However, soft colors such as green or blue may be used in other areas within the classroom. Four discovering a child's color preferences and using those colors may be beneficial. Five personal applications of color may be easily added through the use of colored paper or even colored reading lenses. And six using different colored tape for boundaries or as a means to locate charts or posters will benefit students with or without disabilities.

Speaker 1: 18:57

Wall color is one of the largest physical components in the classroom and it stimulates students' cognitive responses as well as affects their behavior. A recent research study was conducted to determine the attention span of students who were 8 to 9 years old that were in a public school or a private school. One study used five different colors that were applied to the classroom walls of a public school and a private school each week consecutively, and an attention test was conducted each week. The results showed that attention scores were highest for purple wall colors, followed by blue, green, yellow and red wall colors. Attention scores were the lowest for red wall color, and this revealed that the red wall color negatively affected students' attention. The private school students scored higher on the attention test for purple, blue and green wall colors. Red wall color seemed to be less preferred by the students. The conclusion by the researchers was that private school students were more attentive than public school students. This was a limited study that compared specific schools that compared specific schools. Purple did have the highest color score and red had the lowest.

Speaker 1: 20:36

So what does all this really have to do with you and what are your thoughts on what I've just discussed as far as how it applies to you? Here are the action steps you can take regarding this topic. First, I'll share a story. When my kids were young, they were given the choice to decide on the color of their bedrooms. My daughter chose purple, a favorite color of girls at that time anyway, and my son chose blue, which seems to be a favorite color of boys. These colors seemed to resonate with them to provide a stimulating or calming environment for them to thrive in their personal space. Places or rooms designed for children should affect their mind and should create a happy and pleasing environment. Now backed by the research, it's essential to have proper recognition of children's preferences when they consider their favorite colors in room design. My main piece of advice is that you just let your children choose their preferred colors in their living spaces. It could unconsciously provide a pleasant learning and living space for them. Here are this episode's takeaways.

Speaker 1: 22:21

With all the shifts that have happened in education since the pandemic, it's critical that schools focus on creating fresh learning environments. By incorporating vibrant design, schools can revive the perception of learning spaces and create spaces that make children and educators comfortable, invoke inspiration, promote collaboration and infuse energy into learning energy into learning. Learning space designers find that a focal point in the classroom is best identified through the use of a medium tone of blue, brown or gray, with a neutral surrounding. Younger children, however, like bright colors because they contribute to less eye strain and increased attention span. A feature wall with bright color enhances learning, and sections of the floor or desk and chairs can complement the walls. Dark colors, like black and gray, tend to lead to negative feelings for students, so these are less preferred colors for them. White walls, which are seen in many classrooms, result in an understimulation and leads to restlessness and loss of concentration of concentration.

Speaker 1: 23:49

The physical environment of a classroom has been referred to as the silent curriculum, because understanding the physical environment is essential to the education of children. The physical environment of the classroom has the power to facilitate and enhance the learning process, similar to the ways the content curriculum enhances the learning process. Colors used in an interior space are often a visual expression of a person's mental state, emotions and character, culture, age, gender, development level. Certain topics and the activities associated with those topics all have a direct impact on moods, emotions, behaviors and performances of individual students. The low or high vibrational energies of color affect the physical, emotional and emotional reactions of students who occupy a learning space. Some colors have a stimulating effect on students, while other colors have a calming effect.

Speaker 1: 25:04

What are your thoughts about the use of color in classrooms? Let me know by leaving me a text comment on my podcast website, k12educationuntangledbudsproutcom. Remember to share my podcast with anyone that you think would find it valuable. Be sure to tell your friends, family and community about my podcast. Thanks for listening today. I hope you'll come back for more K-12 educational discussions with even more exciting topics to untangle. Until next time, aim to learn something new every day.