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Physical environment

Your physical environment influences your learning performance. Correct temperature, fresh clean air, good light, supportive furniture, and nearby services (rest rooms, break areas, etc.) all contribute to good learning. Let’s look at these in more detail.

Correct temperature

Your body works well in a reasonably limited temperature range. The best temperature for learning is around 73ºF or 23ºC. Even small variations from this temperature have a noticeable impact on learning. For example, a temperature of 78ºF or 26ºC decreases learning performance.

Fresh clean air

The key purpose of fresh air is not so much to replace oxygen, but rather to remove carbon dioxide. In confined unventilated spaces, the build-up of carbon dioxide affects you first, long before the oxygen levels drop far enough to cause any issues. Carbon dioxide can negatively affect your learning state even before you feel the effects.

It’s rather startling to see how fast carbon dioxide builds up in a confined space. Let’s use a small tutorial-style classroom as an example. Take four students (sitting) and one teacher (standing) in a small closed room approx 10.5 X 12 X 8 feet, or 3.2 X 3.7 X 2.8 metres. These people create enough carbon dioxide to cause increased breathing rates and headaches in some people after forty minutes, and significant symptoms after ninety minutes. The same can happen in larger rooms with lots of people sitting closely together.

Carbon dioxide more quickly affects some individuals depending on their location in the room, their health, and whether they smoke. For example, it more quickly affects a teacher who is standing up. Carbon dioxide rich air is usually warmer from being in the lungs of those in the room. If the room temperature is not too hot, this warmer air rises to the upper part of the room. The teacher, standing up, is the first to breathe this air containing more carbon dioxide.

Be aware of ventilation and fresh air in any enclosed building. Even with ventilation, carbon dioxide levels may rise and affect you without you being aware. Be doubly careful in colder climates where heating (especially from naked flame heaters) can significantly add to carbon dioxide levels. Also, you may have heard of “sick buildings.” A lack of ventilation from the outside sometimes causes more than average health issues for the building’s occupants. Sometimes the building designers may be at fault, however building owners or operators sometimes cause this problem when they close fresh air vents to save on heating costs.

Good light

Common sense usually tells you if you have enough light for learning. For reading and writing work, light should be reasonably bright. Dim lighting is important when viewing video or projection based presentations (eg overheads or computer projectors). Dim light can also be helpful during relaxation exercises. Avoid dim lighting in the afternoon though, especially just after lunchtime, as it is likely to encourage drowsiness with negative impacts on learning.

On a related point, there is little reliable proof to suggest that “full spectrum lighting” has any direct effect on learning. Full spectrum light includes sunlight. Some manufacturers now make artificial lights that supposedly give lighting that is more balanced. In my view, your beliefs about lighting affect your learning performance far more than sunlight or full spectrum lighting.

Supportive furniture

The furniture you use directly affects your posture, which in turn affects your learning potential. Muscular tension caused by poor furniture, or poor use of furniture, uses up blood and energy. This can draw blood and energy away from the brain, resulting in less efficient learning.

Use correct furniture and use furniture correctly! Also, avoid introducing tension. For example, sit somewhere in class where you direct face the instructor or teacher, rather than having to turn your body or head significantly to look at them.

Nearby services

If you are responsible for selecting a learning location, be sure to address easy access to restrooms, break areas, food and water, and other services such as phones. Good access to these services usually helps students concentrate more.