Home is the Best Environment for Learning

Imagine waking up at 7:20 a.m. , five minutes before class, rolling out of bed, getting on a computer, and being ready for virtual class all while being comfortable in your own personal environment at home.

This is what the experience has been for students who decided to experience school from the comfort of their own couch in slippers and pajamas.

Environment has been shown to impact learning, and the more familiar one is in an environment, the better they can learn. An environment consists of many different factors such as the safety of the environment, the freedom a student has in the environment, and the social aspect of the environment.

Safety is something most people worry about. Due to Covid-19 many schools have gone completely virtual, given the option to go virtual, or allowed for in-person school with many safety precautions in place.

These have been implemented at HUHS, but there's still risk, shown by many kids getting quarantined for two weeks, where virtual school presents no risk of being in close contact, and getting quarantined.

At home students can learn easier because students are less likely to be distracted by an unfamiliar environment and new attention grabbing objects when they are in their own home.

In EducauseReview, vol. 30, no. 6 Ken Graetz’s article “The Psychology of Learning Environments” states students direct their attention to things they find more interesting, important, or unfamiliar. For example, if a student was in a very warm or cool environment it would distract them from learning. If a student was at home they could control their learning environment to fit them better.

In a similar manner, virtual school is in an environment students are familiar with and has less distractions from peers and other objects in the classroom. ‘The physical characteristics of learning environments can affect learners emotionally, with important cognitive and behavioral consequences,” Graetz said. A noisy environment of kids talking can be distracting to other students trying to get work done. At home students can be alone and focus solely on their work without any distractions from peers.

In Psychology Today the article “Learning Requires Freedom” by Ph.D. and professor Peter Gray states that the strictness and non flexible elements of school prevents students from experiencing things on their own, and forces students to simply learn how to restate information. Virtual School gives students more flexibility and freedom then in person school does.

The strictness of normal school limits students. “Every time we add another hour to the time that children must spend in school or at homework,” Gray said. “We deprive them further of opportunities to play, explore, reflect, and experience the joys and frustrations of self-direction.” This proves the added freedoms of virtual school are better for students than stricter in person school rules.

Additionally, during lunch students have a whole hour to do what they want such as go out for lunch, relax, get ahead on homework, or get ready for their next class. An article on arthurmorganschool.org titled “Importance of Free Time for Students'' by Nicholas Maldonado states unstructured free time gives students a break to experiment and use what they learned in class if they would like. Free time “gives them a break from their daily pressures and allows them to incorporate what they learned into their everyday activities,” Maldonado said.

This hour of unstructured free time unique to virtual school gives students time to unwind, which is overall a benefit to students and educators. Students are less likely to be disruptive and have a better time focusing when they are on their own schedule according to Maldonado.

Due to the ability to control safety, be more comfortable, increased freedom, and reduced distractions in an individual's environment it makes sense to do virtual school.