how learning depends upon environment
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Explanation:
This enchanting description of a classroom at the fictitious Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry captures three fundamental ideas from the environmental psychology of teaching and learning. First, all learning takes place in a physical environment with quantifiable and perceptible physical characteristics. Whether sitting in a large lecture hall, underneath a tree, or in front of a computer screen, students are engulfed by environmental information. Specific targets within the environment draw the students' attention, such as armchairs, scarves, and teacups, and they continuously monitor the ambient properties such as the light of the lamps, the smell of the kettle, and the warmth of the fire. In any learning environment students are awash in environmental information, only a small fraction of which constitutes the sights and sounds of instruction.
Second, students do not touch, see, or hear passively; they feel, look, and listen actively. Students cannot attend to all the environmental information bombarding them at any given time; their ability to gather and understand incoming information is limited. Through automatic and controlled processes, students select information for consideration. They try to understand what they are sensing by piecing bits of information together from the bottom up and by applying existing thoughts and preconceptions from the top down. A classroom with circular tables and comfortable armchairs may look strange because it deviates from expectations formed through prior experience. Students may direct their attention to particular targets in the learning environment that they find more interesting, important, or unfamiliar than others. For some, it might be the instructor's engaging chemistry demonstration. For others, it may be the silvery crystal ball on the shelf. In any learning environment, students manage their limited cognitive resources by actively selecting environmental information for further consideration and by using existing knowledge structures to interpret this information in ways that have worked previously.
Third, the physical characteristics of learning environments can affect learners emotionally, with important cognitive and behavioral consequences. Although emotional reactions to environmental stimuli have been shown to vary widely across individuals and activities, most students would probably find learning difficult in a classroom that is stiflingly warm. Conversely, environments that elicit positive emotional responses may lead not only to enhanced learning but also to a powerful, emotional attachment to that space. It may become a place where students love to learn, a place they seek out when they wish to learn, and a place they remember fondly when they reflect on their learning experiences. In higher education, we hope to provide such places for our students to learn, even as we build yet another large lecture hall and attempt to squeeze our students into crowded, noisy, and uncomfortable spaces. Clearly, some learning environments are more comfortable and offer fewer distractions than others. In any learning environment, physical characteristics that cause discomfort can be expected to interfere with learning; environments that produce positive emotional states can be expected to facilitate learning and the development of place attachment.
The areas of psychology that relate most directly to classroom design and learning environments are environmental, educational, human factors (engineering), and social psychology. Previous research on the effects of such environmental variables as light, temperature, and noise on learning has yielded some predictable results that are addressed through traditional classroom design. Learning appears to be affected adversely by inadequate light, extreme temperatures, and loud noises—variables maintained within acceptable ranges in most college classrooms. Other results, however, reflect the often complex, subtle, and surprising interplay between the learner and the learning environment. Years of research on the impact of environmental variables on human thoughts, feelings, and behaviors indicate that other variables often moderate the effects of environmental variables. In a summary of the research on educational environments, Weinstein2 concluded that environmental variables can impact learners indirectly and that the effects of different physical settings often depend on the nature of the task and the learner. For example, distracting noises appear to slow reaction time and degrade performance to a greater degree in older versus younger adults3 and for introverts to a greater degree than extraverts.4
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