As a result, our brains quickly capture and retain information that is novel or unusual, and this trait can be exploited to good advantage when teaching. The brain learns through the senses, so what is felt, seen, heard, and even smelled can have surprising effects. When an environment feels uncomfortable, our tendency is to escape from it rather than learn in it. We know how temperature affects our ability to remain attentive. In 1991 Dr. D. B. Harmon studied about 160,000 school children and learned that about half of these suffered detrimental effects from classroom lighting.
Good lighting provides a compensatory remedy.
In 1999, Vuontella and others studied the effects of color on learning by comparing verbal cues for recall with color cues. Learners invariably did better using color. NASA scientists have discovered that the presence of plants in a room seems to stimulate learning not merely because of their green color but because of their ability to increase negative ions in the air and remove pollutants. Some house plants are more effective than others. Studies reveal that learners have divergent preferences.