This summer, paint your classroom! Here’s why:
Color has an impact on students’ ability to learn, grow and achieve. As it turns out, quite a lot. Bright colors and fun shapes engage kids and boost their creativity.
And yet, many students spend the majority of their school day in drab, monochrome-colored classrooms with few bright colors around them at all.
In the TED talk linked below, designer Ingrid Fetell Lee, author of “Joyful: The Surprising Power of Ordinary Things to Create Extraordinary Happiness,” talks about the tangible, positive results that can be achieved by designing schools and other institutional spaces with the intent of creating joy.
In addition to noting artists who are taking this aesthetic to heart, Lee also highlights the work of a nonprofit called Publicolor, which puts color research to work and repaints public schools in low-income areas to transform them into vibrant educational centers. Students participating in Publicolor programs are overwhelmingly staying in school, bringing up their grades, and graduating – at a 96% on-time high school graduation rate.
Check out the TED Talk below. Could our public schools, offices and hospitals use a fresh coat of joy?
https://www.ted.com/talks/ingrid_fetell_lee_where_joy_hides_and_how_to_find_it