Optimize Learning Outcomes

The Society of College and University Planning (SCUP) awarded its Chapman Prize to Susan Painter, Janice Fournier, Caryn Grape, Phyllis Grummon, Jill Morelli, Susan Whitmer, and Joseph Cevetello, and they used the prize money to research how libraries (and library design) can best serve current and potential users.  SCUP quotes from their soon to be released monograph, “Research on Learning Space Design:  Present State, Future Direc

Researchers at Rensselaer’s Lighting Research Center have found that exposing people to reddish light during the “post-lunch dip” can be advantageous.  The “dip” is generally from 2 to 4 in the afternoon or 16-18 hours after bedtime the previous night.  Mariana Figueiro and Levent Sahin conducted a study whose “results suggest that red light positively affects measures of alertness not only at night, but also during the day . . .

Metin and his colleagues investigated links between background sound and impulsive behavior by people with ADHD.  They determined that when background “pink noise” was added to a test environment “Children with ADHD made more impulsive choices than controls. Adding noise did not reduce impulsive choice in ADHD.” Previous research indicates that white noise helps students with ADHD concentrate (https://researchdesignconnections.com/pub/children-adhd-concentrate-bett...).

Miller-Cochran and Gierdowski have learned that flexible classroom design cost-effectively supports composition (writing) classes.  More specifically, when students are using their own laptop computers during class “in a flexible classroom, which included mobile furnishings, mobile whiteboards, and multiple LCD screens for projection . . . .

In October 2011 a team of professionals (architects, campus administrators, and higher education association leaders) met with students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison “to consider the relationship between physical place and campus community.”  The report on their gathering states that “participants were asked to imagine thematically what community might l

Researchers at Durham University explored the learning repercussions of multi—touch, multi-user desks. Their findings, derived “from a 3-year project working with over 400 pupils, mostly 8-10 year olds, show that collaborative learning increases both fluency and flexibility in maths. It also shows that using an interactive ‘smart’ desk can have benefits over doing mathematics on paper. Using multi-touch desks in the new classroom, the children were able to work together in new ways to solve and answer questions and problems using inventive solutions.

Recent research at Johns Hopkins confirms previous research linking negative outcomes to human experience of light at night (i.e., http://researchdesignconnections.com/content/more-evidence-problems-ligh...).  Samer Hattar from Johns Hopkins found that  “When people routinely burn the midnight oil, they risk suffering depression and learning issues, and not only because of lack of sleep.