How the Environment Plays A Role In Learning Learning is an important skill that is essential for everyone to succeed in life which includes school, work and our community. By being able to learn we are able to obtain basic knowledge, develop skills and abilities. Whether the environment that we are in is stressful, combative or stress free; the tiniest thing in our environment is important to how we are able to learn. The environment that we are in as children and adults can affect our learning dramatically as well as shape our identities.
Although we all know that the environment around us does play a vital part in learning, we all do not know how it fully affects us. It is not hard to believe that the environment has an effect on us as individuals, this is how we all gain new experiences. (Smith) stated that certain environments can present negative distractions in a child’s learning process. Statistics has shown that if children experienced child abuse they tend to score lower on tests and exams than those who were raised normally. (Smith) stated that families may also be a source for positive motivation in a child’s life.
Families can encourage children to believe in them, thus giving them confidence to believe in themselves and face the challenges that life may throw at them. I grew up where my family had planned my life for me and put me up on the highest pedestal ever imagined. By my family doing that, it affected my confidence to find solutions to problems that came my way. Not only are we affected by the environment but we are also affected by new experiences. By these experiences we are able to either learn or don’t learn from these new experiences. Clark, 2006) states that if an individual has been in the military, then chances are that they will have greater levels of discipline; which will help this individuals ability to learn. Being in the military I have learned a great amount of discipline which has helped me succeed. In the military we can’t afford to make a mistake, we must respond to orders quickly and efficiently. This has helped me not only with succeeding in the military but as well as school. Different people learn in different environments. If you are in a bad neighborhood, you would have to learn how to defend yourself.
It is not by choice, it is just by the environment that you are in. Unfortunately as I have come to find, these environments affect your ability to learn effectively. It has been reported that people who have been brought up in poor neighborhoods with high crime levels are likely to remain uneducated throughout their lives due to these negative distractions. However, environments in which there are many knowledgeable people normally encourage others to want to learn more about them (Smith). Depending on what type of environment an individual is in, it can either help one to focus or it may cause one to be distracted.
For example (Smith) stated that environmental conditions may affect one’s ability to learn. Chances are that if you are in a combat zone or in an area that has many weather disasters it will affect your ability to learn. You would be more focused on what is going on around you that you will have a harder time concentrating. I can relate to this, being in a combat zone right now my focus is on staying alive and being alert to my surroundings. When it comes to schoolwork and being over here my mind is focused on listening to if we’re going to get an incoming siren.
However, if you are in an environment that offers a variety of geographical, historical or scientific material to learn from, it will enhance the learning process (Smith). Since every person is unique their response to the environment around them is unique as well (Piaget, 1950). Being in Iraq, I have experienced some of the interesting things that this country has to offer. By being in multiple sand storms and seeing different animals, it makes me want to research why sandstorms occur, why the rain over here is muddy and why the camel spiders out here are enormous to the regular spiders that we have in the US.
It is a stressful environment but an educational environment as well. In a research done by the (Jago) it has revealed that the thermal of an environment in the classroom will affect a student’s ability to learn. (Herrington, 1952) has found that temperatures above 80 degrees can affect a persons ability to learn as well as produce harmful effects that decrease working efficiently. Air conditioning used to be considered a luxury to have in school but (Canter, 1976) has found that we will work more efficiently is the environment we were in was at a comfortable temperature.
When anyone is in a hot classroom or setting, fatigue sets in and it gets harder to concentrate. If we were in an environment that had a comfortable temperature we will be able to focus more on what is needed to be done. (McDonald, 1960) found that if classrooms had air conditioning it not only improved the students work efficiency but, it also improved the teachers’ attitudes and work patterns since teachers’ would be experiencing less fatigue. We all had thought that by being in an air conditioned room we were being “spoiled. Now research has proven that air conditioning is an important factor into helping students’ as well as teachers’ improve their work efficiency. My research has given me new insight as to how the environment can affect us from childhood to adult hood. In my research I was able to see that by being in a foreign country, I should take advantage of it and learn as much as I possibly can about their culture, learning habits, as well as the insect and animal life. I have realized that my learning habits have changed from when I was a civilian to how now as a soldier.
By doing this research paper, I learned the hardships that many people in bad neighborhoods go through into pursuing their education. Works Cited Canter, D. (1976). Environmental Interaction Psychological Approaches to Our Physical Surroundings. New York: Internationa University Press. Clark, R. N. (2006). Efficiency in Learning: Evidence-Based Guidelines to Manage Cognitive Load. San Francisco, CA: Pfeiffer. Herrington, L. (1952). Effects of Thermal Environment on Human Action (Vol. 24). American School and University. Jago, E. T. (n. d. . Affects of the School Facility on Student Achievement. Retrieved 1999, from http://www. coe. uga. edu/sdpl/researchabstracts/visual. html McDonald, E. (1960). Effect of School Environment on Teacher and Student Performance. 57, 78-79. Piaget, J. (1950). The Psychology of Intelligence. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul LTD. Smith, C. (n. d. ). How The Environment Plays A Role In Learning. Retrieved June 25, 2010, from Articlesbase: http://www. articlesbase. com/education-articles/how-the-environment-plays-a-role-in-learning-1919635. html
