The classroom: is it a good learning environment?

Is there an environment that is better for learning than others? Can certain factors increase potential memory absorption. Are traditional classrooms hindering learning? 

When we think of a classroom with 20-30 students, the carbon dioxide they breathe out can create high levels, especially if the classroom is poorly ventilated. So the mid morning slump that you often hear teachers talk about is real! When the children arrive they have a good amount of oxygen in their bloodstream, this is why the best work is often done in the mornings. After a couple of hours the carbon dioxide levels in their bloodstream are increase considerably. Even with breaks for outside playtime, the air is the class is not being replaced so the same thing will happen when they return to the classroom.

According to medical research, increased levels of carbon dioxide in the blood stream decreases the cerebral metabolism of oxygen and in turn has an impact on thinking abilities. Put simply, the brain is deprived of oxygen.  Scientists at University College London found in studies that higher levels of carbon dioxide reduces memory, impairs concentration and lowers decision making capacities.

Classrooms often reach average carbon dioxide levels above 1000ppm, as observed across elementary classrooms in Texas, Michigan, Washington, Sweden and England. In a 2002 study, 21% of classrooms in Texas had carbon dioxide concentration over 3000ppm (Corsi, 2002).

One of the issues is that there are many schools still operating in older building, where the classrooms are dark and have small windows that do not allow efficient air circulation. When interviewing a state primary school teacher from Cardiff,Wales recently, she told me how the windows in her classroom did not open and at the beginning of the day the room is freezing and by 11am it is too hot. This affects the children's behaviour and concentration levels.

What is the answer? Oxygen levels need to be kept at certain levels. There should be regulations to check the air quality in classrooms. There should be opportunity for sufficient ventilation and the children should be getting breaks outdoors once an hour, Finish schools often do not have the children indoors for more than 45 minutes at a time. This gives them opportunity to refresh the oxygen in their systems.

Somethings else I think would be beneficial to classrooms is having plants in them. Plants as we know absorb carbon dioxide and release oxygen. It has been shown that plants have a positive affect on brain functions.  Plants play a role in cleaning the air.

Scientists at NASA in the 1980s discovered that plants were adept at removing chemical such as Benzene Trichloroethylene from the air making it cleaner for humans. Plants can reduce carbon dioxide levels by 25% in buildings. (Study by Dr Fraser Torpy - director of technology, Sydney - Plant and indoor environmental quality research group.)

It has also been shown that plants can reduce noise levels - they can absorb sound. This can only be a benefit in a bustling classroom. Plants are also a great visual for increasing creativity. 

As a start for this topic, plants and well oxygenated classroom would make a massive difference on thinking and learning ability in classrooms. The next thing I would like to research and look into is how colours can have an influence on mood and behaviour in the classrooms. Can some colours encourage better behaviour and creativity??

References:

Ciphr.com/benefitsofplants

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Socialisation in homeschooling children

When you mention homeschooling to someone, one of the first responses you get is about how your children won't be socialised. How can they socialise if they don't attend school?

As a homeschooler there is plenty to worry about - how your children are doing  academically, which activities to attend, which curriculum to use but socialisation is not one of the worries. Why do I not worry?

School is a environment where children are put into groups according to their ages and then are with that same group of children for a number of years. Playtimes and lunch are often segregated by key stages and staggered by year groups. Children in school rarely interact with children older or younger and often the adult/child relationships in schools are dictatory.
Chatting in class is not allowed and often questioning is not encouraged (due to time and the number of children in a class).

Having spent a lot of time around home schooling families  I see children attend activities on a daily basis where children mix amongst adults and other children of varying ages. Older children play with younger children. Older children teach younger children and then chose to have  conversations with adults. The children naturally bounce off of each other and are confident to question/ talk to adults. There is no segregation due to ages.

Seeing home schooled children in a variety of situations socialising with people of all ages, shows me what true socialisation is.

I personally think that schools need to work more on socialisation and collaboration. Great ideas come from bouncing ideas off of others, talking to those of different ages and learning from others.

Not all classrooms have 4 wallls

Over the past century we have become accustomed  to learning and education as something that only happens during the 6-7 hours a day when you attend school. School - a institute where children are segregated by age and taught what is deemed appropriate and relevant for there age.

Learning however is something that is innate. As babies we learn to talk and walk, learn from the environment and from the people around us. We have however become accustomed to the idea that our abilities to teach our children end at the end of 4/5 years and that they must got into a educational setting.

 I have seen the quote many times ‘If we sent babies and toddlers to school and they learnt to walk and talk in the school setting, over a period of time we would come to believe that parents and children themselves are incapable of walking and talking without schools'.  You may laugh at this because it seems extreme but what I hear from many home educators is similar. They are nervous about taking on the task of educating their child and fear without a school and a teacher,  their children will not learn to read and write or gain a 'worthy' education. Is this the case? No?

 Children and indeed us adults are constantly learning throughout out lives on a daily basis. Learning is happening all around us. We are being taught by many different people, the environment, by our natural curiosity and by life. Travel and experiences, new people and cultures all shape our learning.

I see everything as an opportunity for learning. Even when you don't call it learning and make the intention to seek knowledge, it is still happening. This is why I personally see the classroom as a very limiting experience of learning. When you have reached what is deemed relevant for your age, you are held back; four walls defiantly do not inspire natural curiosity.

I often come up against resistance when trying to get one of my children to do maths. Even when I try to make it fun. One day, I took some marker pens and headed to a pebble beach. I wrote  algebraic equations on pebbles and the way he reacted was incredible. He was asking for more work and I actually saw him enjoying it. Was it the extra oxygen in his lungs? the freedom of the outdoors? I am sure they played a role in how he viewed the work.

I believe that school environments need updating and well as the idea that learning only happens there. Colourful displays and some toys are not enough but rather zones that are for different purposes. Classrooms that encourage collaboration and self learning, more didactic resources and opportunities for children to take hold of their own learning, use their passions and develop creatively into adults that think outside the box.

The world is our classroom.