Too Much Decoration?

A new study, reported in the New York Times, looked at whether highly decorated Kindergarten classrooms encourage, or actually distract from, learning.  The study, one of the first to examine how the look of these walls affects young students, found that when kindergartners were taught in a highly decorated classroom, they were more distracted, their gazes more likely to wander off task, and their test scores lower than when they were taught in a room that was comparatively spartan.

The researchers, from Carnegie Mellon University, did not conclude that kindergartners, who spend most of the day in one room, should be taught in an austere environment.  But they urged educators to establish standards.  In the early years of school, children must learn to direct their attention and concentrate on a task.  As they grow older, their focus improves.  Sixth graders, for example, can tune out extraneous stimuli far more readily than preschoolers, the study’s authors noted.

"So many things affect academic outcomes that are not under our control," said Anna V. Fisher, an associate professor of psychology at Carnegie Mellon and the lead author of the study.  "But the classroom's visual environment is under the direct control of the teachers.  They're trying their best in the absence of empirically validated guidelines."

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