‘Visual Environment, Attention Allocation and Learning in Young Children: When Too Much of a Good Thing May Be Bad’ by A.Fisher, K.E.Godwin1, and H.Seltman (2014)
We find this a great article to pass on to teachers and parents- especially those who are interested in research and evidence, as a way to help them understand the impacts of sensory processing and our environment on attention and engagement. Researchers selected kindergarten aged children and they were split into 2 classes- one class had sparse walls, the other was brightly decorated with posters.
Some key points from the article:
Research shows younger children find it more difficult to concentrate. Building inhibitory control and working memory (some of the skills required for attention) are skills developed into late adolescence and early adulthood.
Children in the decorated classroom were off task more frequently than children in the sparsely decorated classroom.
Children in both classrooms learnt from the instruction (reading books on selected topics), however those in the sparse classroom learnt more
Children in the sparse classroom were more likely to be distracted by other children or themselves, and children in the decorated classroom were more likely to be distracted by their visual environment.
In this study, children were exposed to the 2 different classrooms so it is possible they were distracted by changes also, or if exposed over a long period of time they may become used to this level of sensory input. Though for children who find learning challenging and or may have difficulties with sensory processing, this may not be the case!
The article doesn’t advocate all classrooms be sparse, but it does show that children’s visual environment can be a distraction and make learning more challenging.