"Any intelligent fool can make things bigger and more complex… It takes a touch of genius – and a lot of courage to move in the opposite direction."
— Albert Einstein
本次推文是中英文双语的~
Hello guys! Welcome back! We started talking last week about the things that we should be paying attention within a built environment.
If you missed our previous article, please click the title below!
环境，是朋友还是敌人？The environment, a friend or a foe?【Part 1】
So what are the elements that we should pay attention to?
Furniture 家具
坐在舒适柔软的椅子上会让你想在教室呆更长时间。相反，硬的以及不舒适的椅子会让你不情愿去学习从而失去耐心。结果是，我们的注意力下降了，从而不能专心听课，也记不住新单词。如果你的腰背开始疼痛，那就更糟了，因为会使你更早的逃离教室，并影响你整天的学习心情。
Sitting in comfortable and soft chairs will make you want to spend longer time in that classroom. However, hard and uncomfortable chairs will make you involuntarily lose your patience. As a consequence, our attention span is reduced, thus not being able to fully focus, nor remember new English words.
It becomes even more disturbing once back pain starts to kick in, as it won't only make you want to get out of that classroom faster, but it will also ruin your mood for the rest of the day.
Layout 布局
当教室中有很多排能坐两个人以上的书桌时，将会让你进入听的模式而不是互动模式。如果你坐在边上的位置，中间的同学需要出去时，那么坐在你们中间的所有人都要先出来，这会打扰你的注意力及学习。一旦你的注意力不集中了，就不能跟上老师的教学内容，所以你的学习结果就被连累了。
然而，书桌的集中布置（学生面对面）将会让学生们更愿意互动与合作。当你尝试提高英语口语时，这种布局会很合适。
Desks of more than two people arranged in rows in a classroom, will put you into the listening mood, not the interaction mood. If you are sitting on the side and your colleagues in the middle of the row need to go out of the classroom, they will disturb you, thus make you lose focus on the lesson. Once your attention is lost, it will be very difficult to continue following the teacher's ideas, thus your learning outcome has been already compromised.
However, a cluster type arrangement of tables (students facing each other) will make you more willing to interact with others and encourage to better cooperate in groupwork. When you are trying to improve your English speaking, this is definitely the type of layout that you should be looking for.
Color颜色
教室中的鲜艳色彩会让你保持清醒并帮助你的思维集中在课程中。例如，研究表明蓝色能够帮助增加注意力集中的能力，紫色能鼓励合作。暗淡颜色的教室（如灰色，白色，浅褐色等）会对注意力产生消极影响，并使你分心和犯困，从而不能够集中于手头的任务。如果想了解更多关于颜色与心情的关系，你可以查阅颜色心理学相关知识。
Vivid colors in a classroom will keep you awake and help you keep your mind focused on the lesson. As an example, research shows that blue helps increase the ability to concentrate, while purple encourages cooperation.
Classrooms painted in very pale colors (e.g. grey, white, beige etc) will negatively influence our ability to focus and make you feel distracted and sleepy, unable to focus on the tasks at hand. For more info about colors and mood, you can do some research on the psychology of colors.
Temperature温度
When talking about temperature, it is very difficult to point out the perfect temperature for maximizing learning outcomes, as different people perceive temperature differently, depending on which geographical area they grew up in. However, it is worth pointing that if you feel too cold or too hot in a classroom, that feeling will inhibit your brain activity, thus trying to attend a lesson in such conditions is a waste of time and resources.
当说到温度时，很难找到一个合适的温度让我们的学习效果最大化，因为不同的人对温度有不同的感受，取决于他们成长时所在的地理环境。然而，值得指出的是，当你在教室中感觉太冷或太热时，这种感觉会占据你的主要大脑活动，因此在这样的环境中上课实际上是在浪费时间和资源。
It is also worth mentioning that people's perceptions about hot or cold can be influenced by giving them the illusion of control. In other words, research shows that if people feel they have control over the temperature (e.g. they are able to turn the AC up or down), even if the temperature in the room doesn't actually change, but their perception about how hot or cold it is will change, thus becoming more comfortable in that room.
还有一件事值得指出，那就是人们对冷和热的感知可能会被控制错觉所影响。换言之，研究表明当人们能够控制温度时（比如，他们能够调高和调低空调的温度），即使室内的温度没有改变，他们对冷和热的感觉却会改变，因此在房间中的感觉会更舒适。
Acoustics 音响
If you are among those students who always run to the back of the classroom out of fear that the teacher will ask you questions, depending on how good or bad the acoustics of the classroom is, you might be losing 80% of what the teacher is saying. As a result, it is very easy for you to feel distracted, sleepy and want to find other type of entertainment while in the classroom (e.g. play with your mobile phone, talk with other colleagues etc).
如果你处于那些经常跑到教室后面从而避免回答问题的学生中间时，你可能会错过80%的课堂内容（但这也取决于教室声音的好坏）。结果是，你感觉被干扰了，犯困，想找到其他的娱乐方式（如玩手机，和其他同学讲话等）。
If you are a teacher, remember this: next time you face some naughty students in the back of the classroom, just change their position and let them help out with your lesson (e.g. teaching assistant) and see what the result is. I have a feeling you won't be disappointed!
如果你是老师，记住：当遇到淘气的学生坐在教室最后面时，给他们调换下位置，让他们在课堂上帮助你（如让他当老师助手）并观察效果。我觉得你不会失望的！
如果觉得这些知识对周边的朋友们会有帮助，欢迎转发这篇文章~
