There’s a quick and easy way to make sure your classroom is comfortable, focused, and less stressed, all at the same time. How? By making sure you always have plants in your classroom. It might sound too good to be true. But let’s see why plants can have such a positive impact on your student’s mood and learning abilities.
8 Reasons You Should Always Have Plants In Your Classroom
#1 Has A Restorative Effect Even In Small Doses
According to a study by Science Direct, taking micro-breaks to look at greenery can decrease error rates on tasks. The amazing thing is it only takes about 40 seconds of looking at plant life to achieve this effect. So it’s a low-effort high-reward situation. You can easily replicate this by putting some green plants in easy-to-view areas, with the idea of adding “eye-relief” to students whenever they need it.
#2 Better Learning Capacity
When students are around plants, their focus, concentration, and ability to learn are increased. This was especially true for students with learning problems (i.e. ADD), which shows how wide-ranging the benefits of plants in a classroom can have. There seems to be some kind of soothing effect that helps them focus on their work, which is great for everybody in the class.
#3 Plants In Classroom Make For Easy Stress-Relief
It’s been shown that gardeners are typically less stressed out in life. The process of nurturing seems to have a positive effect on people, lowering mental distress and making it easier to function. You can use this to your advantage by letting students occasionally water your plants. It may not have the same results as gardening, but it can still enhance their breaks by giving them the satisfaction of helping something grow and survive.
#4 Improve Memory And Attention Up To 20%
Just being outside in a natural environment has been shown to improve memory and attention noticeably (Bisco Werner 1996). Plants have a naturally calming trait to them which is good for students and people in general, so it’s easy to see why having some green around is good for the brain. The best way to use this information is to take breaks (or even occasionally work) outside. Second to that is adding plenty of vibrant, green plants inside your classroom in places that are highly visible.
#5 Increased Positivity When Depressed
On top of using green plants, you can also toss some flowers into the mix as well. Studies show that an array of colorful flowers can do wonders for people who are stressed or feel a bit depressed as well. You don’t need to create a jungle or anything, just a few well-placed flowers for that pop of color will be of great help, if your students are down in the dumps for any reason at all (Brethour 2007).
#6 Great For Student Relationships
Something interesting about plants is they seem to encourage solid communication and relationships amongst people (Brethour 2007). In general, those who spend lots of time around plants are shown to be more helpful and seem to care more about people as well. This empathy boost is sure to create a positive classroom environment that both students and teachers can benefit from.
#7 Plants In Classroom Make People Feel More Energetic
Simply being around plants makes people feel more vitality (Bernstein 2009). This leads to a perceived boost in energy, which in turn leads to better performance in whatever actions they need to take. It’s almost like having a coffee without drinking one. But without the jitters or other downsides in the process.
#8 Attendance Better In Classes With Plants
On top of plants improving attention, students seem to want to attend classes that have plants in them (Amanda Read 2005). Attendance is noticeably higher in classes with lush greenery, likely because it’s easier to focus on lectures since plants have a restorative effect on brains. Meaning there’s less mental resistance to make a “decision” to attend a class or not.
So why not help them make a smart decision to go to your class? Just add a plant in your classroom and everybody’s happy.
Help Students Want To Attend Your Class
Adding plants is a simple and smart way to get students more interested and focused on your classes. But something else that helps them is ensuring they feel competent when attending as well. And an easy way to do that is making sure they’re skilled in one of the top tasks needed nowadays – typing skills!
Help them master this skill with the tools found at KeyboardingOnline, so they feel more confident every time they step into your class. And more than likely, they’ll be more focused and attentive because of it.