Over-decorated classrooms are common. Teachers love to spend money on decorations. With that in mind, classrooms are too busy. They overburden students with too much information. Many classrooms over-stimulate students with decorations. They bombard students with too much visual information. Thus, it interferes with a student’s ability to focus. Studies show that children have difficulty ignoring visual distractors in their classrooms.
Decorated Classrooms
The best classrooms aren’t the ones that are highly decorated. The best classroom climate for learning contains fresh air and plenty of light. Students who have exposure to natural light outperform students who get less natural light. Also, plants add brightness to the classroom. Equally, displays must be well thought out for learning. Students benefit from a display that is well-thought-out. Classroom decorations help to create a place to engage students. Students can remember rules with a display.
The best display is to show student work. This empowers students to own what they learn. It gives them responsibility for the display. However, do not display scores or grades. This defeats the purpose of a learning atmosphere. Students have varying levels of academic ability. A display of only high achievements defeats students with lesser abilities. Not all students learn in the same manner. Therefore, students must be able to see their own work in the classroom.
Color in the classroom also has various effects on students. Too much color has an effect on learning. Consequently, classrooms with no color and no displays result in low learning outcomes.
Also, studies find that students do not respond to teacher-made or commercial displays that contain reference lists, timetables, or classroom rules. As students complete in-class assignments, they do not refer to the displays on the walls, even though they help. To be effective, these types of displays are better made by the students. The students’ input makes them pay attention to the needed content for their assignments.
In short, displays help students as students create them to support their learning. Over-decorated classrooms cause students to lose focus. Keep the classroom simple. It’s about learning, not decorations.
