Job Discussion Forums

[Jack Rabbit]

I want to start a thread about environmental influences in the classroom and I will start with a situation that happened to me years ago.

I was very young then looking for a job in the city that I lived in. I had nine job interviews in one day and there was a heat wave going on. It was the last interview of the day and I was in a terrible mood. A characteristic about my bad moods is they don�t go away quickly. They hang around.

It was a job for telephone sales and the interviewer had someone ahead of me so I had to wait. At first, I could�ve happily killed someone, a minute later I felt pretty good, four minutes later when it was my turn, I felt great! I felt so good in fact that I knew something was up. So when I walked into his office, the first thing I said to him was; �Why do I feel so GOOD?� The interviewer looked pleased at this odd start and replied; �Ahh, you noticed.� And then he explained�.

�See those walls? There was an experiment done in prisons dealing with environmental factors to reduce violence. It was found that this shade of coral reduced stress 30%.�

�Smell that air? Fresh smelling, no? Negative ions. Most electrical equipment, air-cons, lights create positive ions which lower peoples mood, energy and resistance to disease. I put in air purifiers that produce negative ions that have a positive influence on the human body.�

Then he went on to explain that the muzac that I heard had a voice that said over and over �I like working here. I like working here�� I thought that method was a little draconian. The interview came to an end and I left. I never did get the job, oddly enough, but I got the idea and it intrigued me ever since.

Later, I read in Scientific American (when it was a good magazine) about how florescent lights have a negative effect on the pituitary gland and other areas of people that went way beyond vision about how light that comes close to natural light has a positive effect on people�s health.

I heard somewhere that 62 degrees Fahrenheit was the optimal temperature for thinking.

I have a book called �How to Grow Fresh Air� written by someone who headed that (failed) experiment in the States that tried to create a completely closed off environment. It was conducting in connection to creating environments in space stations. It listed plants that were very good at producing oxygen and taking the indoor pollutants out of the air.

I also have a book by Hall titled �The Hidden Dimension� that is about how seating arrangements affect human interactions.

These different environmental influences when combined would have a powerful effect on learners and teachers alike. I posted this message in hopes that others of you will add things (hopefully along with their sources) that also emit a positive influence on the human mind and body when it comes to enhancing the learning process.

Any ideas?

Jack Rabbit

[John Hall]

Surprised you didn't mention feng shui.

For me, the classroom set-up makes a big difference in how the class goes.

[Jack Rabbit]

Thank you John for your reply.

All though this Chinese philosophy is about environmental set up, I'm not sure if it is going along the lines that I value.With adages of "blocking all drains will increase wealth" strikes me as a little symbolic for what I'm after.

I'm hoping for ideas from people that are more scientific and therefore their effectiveness can be measured.

Have you read any other ideas, John?

Jack Rabbit

[John Hall]

Just smatterings here and there.

Regarding feng shui, yes there is quite a bit of it that should be treated as mere superstition. However, many aspects of feng shui have been proven to have a scientific basis. I couldn't give an example of such a book (because I don't know one), but there are some feng shui books that point out the scientifically proven aspects of feng shui. I would take a look at one of those.

[Jack Rabbit]

I understand, John.

I will have to re-think my views and opinions about Feng Shui. I remember having a similarly skeptical view of Acupuncture and Tie Chi when I was younger and in time, my views proved to be closed minded. I have had experience with both when I lived in the UAE and I was very impressed! Feng Shui also comes from that same old and great culture. If you can think of any good books on the topic, let me know!

Jack Rabbit