Effects of Light on Students - Light Helps Pupils Learn!

Schools, classrooms and other work environments where people spend time learning and working under simulated sunlight (full spectrum lighting and color) experience less stress and anxiety, improved behavior and attitudes, improved health and attendance, and increased performance and academic achievement. 

Research in the use of light in schools has shown that cool-white fluorescent bulbs,

(which are used in virtually all classrooms) cause:

Ø      bodily stress,

Ø      anxiety,

Ø      hyper-activity,

Ø      attention problems and other distress leading to poor learning performance.

 In 1973, Ott studied four, first grade classes in Florida. Two classrooms were installed with full- spectrum, radiation-shielded fluorescent light fixtures, while the other two classrooms remained with the traditional cool-white fluorescent bulbs. In reporting the results of this study, Dr. Liberman stated that: “Concealed time-lapsed cameras took random sequences of students and teachers in the {four}classrooms. Although teachers were aware of the {research} program, neither they nor the students were aware of when they were being photographed.

 With cool-white fluorescent lighting, some students demonstrated hyperactivity, fatigue, irritability, and attention deficits. In the classrooms with full-spectrum lighting, however, behavior and classroom performance, as well as overall academic achievement, improved markedly within one month after the new lights were installed. Furthermore, several learning-disabled children with extreme hyperactivity problems miraculously calmed down and seemed to overcome some of their learning and reading problems while in classrooms with full-spectrum lighting.

 Wohlfarth and Sam, 1981, studied, according to Liberman, “the combined impact of selected colors and full-spectrum lighting on the behavior and physiology of both blind children with severe behavioral disorders and sighted children with severe handicaps.” Under full-spectrum lighting,

Ø      blood pressure dropped significantly and

Ø      aggressive behavior reduced significantly.

 However, when the lights were replaced with standard cool-white fluorescent bulbs, blood pressure increased and aggressive and disorderly conduct increased. And, the blind children were equally as affected as those with sight.

This study additionally demonstrated that children in rooms with full-spectrum lighting developed one-third of the number of cavities in their teeth as children in the classrooms with the standard cool-white fluorescent lights.” (Liberman, 1991)

 A study by the Council of Educational Facility Planners compared cool white to full spectrum fluorescent lamps in a controlled scientific test in classrooms. Students had a 2.5 times better attendance record in rooms with full spectrum lamps. They were sick much less frequently.

(Graves, 1985) (Hathaway, 1980)

 How many children must suffer before we realize that stupidity is a learned behavior; that the giftedness in each individual can be tapped and developed under optimal learning ergonomics, including the strategic use of full spectrum light?

 Titoff, 1999, concluded in his research that “There was a statistically significant difference between the students who worked under old-style fluorescent lights and those who worked under full-spectrum, visually-efficient lighting.” This controlled study verified that depression was lowered among those students who experienced learning under full-spectrum lighting. Also, depression actually increased under standardfluorescent lights among the fourth graders. As an elementary school principal, William Titoff conducted research for his Ph.D. dissertation and discovered that when the project was completed, “the teachers with the full-spectrum lighting refused to let me take it out and put back the old-style fluorescent bulbs.”

 A study of five schools conducted in Canada by the Alberta Department of Education documented health benefits in children exposed to daylight.

The study compared the health of elementary school children in rooms with natural, full-spectrum light to those in rooms with conventional lighting. The conclusion? Far from being neutral with respect to affecting children, light has significant non-visual effects.

The Canadian study revealed that exposure to full spectrum light resulted in students with

Ø      better attendance (3.5 fewer days of absence per year)

Ø      more positive moods, resulting in better scholastic performance

 Other surprising results:

Ø      better dental records (nine times less tooth decay) and

Ø      increased growth (more than 3/4 inch in two years).