Maps, number lines, shapes, artwork and other materials tend to cover primary school classroom walls. However, too much has the potential to disrupt attention and learning in young children, according to research published in Psychological
Science.
The researchers found that children in highly decorated classrooms were more distracted, spent more time off-task and demonstrated smaller learning gains than when the decorations were removed.
Rather than removing all decorations, researchers recommended that teachers consider whether specific visual displays are more distracting to young children than others.
When children were taught in classrooms that were sparse in appearance, the children’s test results significantly improved. Also, researchers found that the children spent 50% more time off task i.e. chatting with peers, when they were in a decorated classroom.