Examining Student Behavior under Two Correlated Color Temperature Levels of Lighting in an Elementary School Classroom.

Numerous studies suggest a correlation between a school’s physical environment and children’s academic success. A variable within the classroom environment that has received little attention in the literature is the interior lighting. It is known that higher levels of correlated color temperature (CCT) lighting influence worker productivity in a workplace or laboratory setting. The CCT is the color of light emitted from a light source ranging from low (red) to high (blue). It is therefore necessary to uncover if a higher CCT level of lighting compared to the typically specified lower CCT level of lighting would influence student productivity and academic success in a classroom environment. This is a mixed method within-subjects case study designed to observe student behaviors as a way to gauge student productivity and academic success. Two different CCT levels of fluorescent lighting, which is the standard lighting fixture in most American public school classrooms, were installed in an existing second grade classroom using an ABAB study design. The study utilized both behavior mapping techniques to record student physical locations in the room and a time sampling non-participate observation technique to record on-task behaviors of the students for a duration of 5 months. The findings on the relation between the CCT of the lighting fixtures and student on-task behavior in an elementary classroom concluded that the higher CCT of the lighting the more student on-task behaviors were (p =.038) even while more male students physically moved around the classroom. This study has practical implications to facility managers and school officials interested in bettering classroom physical environments to advance student academic success. INTRODUCTION The physical variables within a classroom environment have a direct influence on student academic success and development (Duran-Narucki, 2008; Evans, 2006; Uline, 2008). Studies have examined various classroom variables including room size and color (Moore & Lackney, 1993), indoor air quality (Ferreira & Cardoso, 2014), noise levels (Maxwell & Evans, 2000), and room temperature (Theodosiou & Ordoumpozanis, 2008). Possible links between the classroom’s electrical lighting and student behavior have received little attention in the empirical literature, specifically with younger students (Sleegers, Moolenaar, Galetzka, Pruyn, Sarroukh, & Zande, 2012). Past interior lighting studies have focused on the occupant’s visual acuity and productivity within a workplace or laboratory setting (DeKort & Veitch, 2014). The association between child development, cognition, and lighting in the interior environment is unclear (Mahdjoubi & Akplotski, 2012). This is of concern for children since they process and respond to stimuli differently than do adults because of their smaller physical size (Evans, 2006). Since it is known that interior lighting influences worker productivity in the workplace it is hypothesized that the interior lighting would influence student productivity in a school classroom environment. Productivity is displayed as on-task behaviors in young children. Children ages 2-7 are in the preoperational developmental stage and have yet to develop appropriate cognitive abilities to