Examining Effects of Environmental Factors on College Students’ Learning and Success

Abstract

The importance of environmental factors for students’ learning performance is inevitable. As students grow up and go to college, they should have changes in their preferences for how their environment for studying should be. Understanding what visual, structural, and organizational elements of one’s surrounding can help college students concentrate better comes handy to make arrangements for their study environment accordingly. The goal of this research paper is to study what environmental elements can be stimulating or distracting for college students’ learning outcomes when they are studying. Data was collected by surveying students majoring mostly in the sciences using a Likert-type and open-ended questionnaire. Our analysis suggests that a quiet, well-lit, structured, and noise-free study environment is the most ideal for students. Our data further finds out that students prefer accessibility to a table or desk, having note-taking materials (pens, pencils, notebooks, tablets, laptops) well-organized, and having snacks around while studying. Finally, our data suggests that students emphasizing the importance of environmental organization for studying had higher academic performance.