Color Sense

This article reports a study conducted by members of the WellU Academic Integration Subcommittee of The College of St. Scholastica's College's Healthy Campus Initiative plan whose purpose was to determine whether changing color in the classroom could have a measurable effect on students. One simple improvement a school can make in a classroom is adding color; paint is relatively inexpensive, and painting is not extremely labor-intensive. To assess whether the color of the walls affected the students, the study measured three areas: performance as measured by off-task behavior, self-reports of how the classrooms affected students' learning and emotions, and grades. The results of this study showed that color in a classroom can reduce off-task behavior and anxiety, as well as positively affect perceptions of learning and sense of well-being.