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The spaces we inhabit can affect our thoughts, feelings, and behavior. Recent brain research, as reported in Scientific American Mind (May 2009), demonstrates the impact of environments:

• High ceilings make people feel physically less constrained and encourage people to think more freely, more creatively. Low ceilings, on the other hand, create a sense of confinement and inspire a more detail-oriented work.
• What one sees outside through windows matters. Views of nature result in inhabitants having an easier time focusing, paying attention, than views of man-made structures.
• Nature also impacts students with attention deficit disorder (ADD). Students with ADD show less severe symptoms after they have been in or observed green spaces.
• Fifth grades students in classrooms with unrestricted views of nature had higher scores on tests of vocabulary, language arts, and math than children whose classrooms did not have such views.
• Natural light in classrooms really matters. Children in classrooms with the most natural light advance faster, by 20 - 25% in math and reading results than children in classrooms with the least natural light.
• Inhabitants of rooms with furniture that has rounded or curved edges have an easier time relaxing than in rooms where furniture has sharp angles.

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Exchange has a wide variety of resources on environments that can be purchased separately or altogether at a discounted price in our Environments Tool Kit. Exchange environmental resources in the kit include...

Books:

• Caring Spaces, Learning Places: Children's Environments That Work
• Natural Playscapes: Creating Outdoor Play Environments for the Soul
• Learning With Nature Idea Book: Creating Nurturing Outdoor Spaces for Children

Beginning Workshop Units:

• Environments for Special Needs
• Environments
• Environments With Families in Mind
• Outdoor Environments
• Space
• Environments to Engage Children
• Learning Materials

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