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‘Despite being in urban locations, the results from my study showed that outdoor learning sessions were consistently, and significantly, quieter than indoor sessions.’
Noise levels in early years classrooms
There has been a lot of research into excess noise and why it’s detrimental to learning. Noise has been shown to affect listening, speech production, reading, comprehension, numeracy and memory (Shield & Dockrell, 2003).
This is especially true for younger children as the ability to separate out the voice we’re trying to listen to from other background noises is a skill which develops over time (Vander Ghinst et al, 2019). This means younger children need quieter conditions than older children do, in order to hear and understand speech. Studies have shown that noisy environments can affect preschoolers’ listening and their subsequent language acquisition and reading development (Maxwell and Evans, 1999). As well as the overall volume, how echoey a space is also affects children’s ability to understand speech (Manlove et al, 2001), as sound bounces off various surfaces and different noises become intermingled.
Noise also acts as a stressor, increasing children’s levels of stimulation. Early years environments can be over stimulating for some children, and excess noise may lead to dysregulation and emotional stress.
The outdoor learning study
It makes sense that outdoor learning environments would probably be quieter than indoor ones as there are fewer surfaces for noise to bounce off. However, surprisingly there hasn’t been any previous research which evidences this. In my study I used a decibel meter to measure noise levels during indoor and outdoor learning sessions. The activities that children were doing were matched indoors and outside, and the outdoor learning space was measured so that it was the same size as the children’s indoor classroom.
The outdoor learning environments were in urban schools, so many of them were close to traffic noise, with one being underneath the London City Airport flight path.
Noise levels outdoors vs inside
‘…something about the outdoor environment may buffer children against the stressful effects of noise.’
Despite being in urban locations, the results from my study showed that outdoor learning sessions were consistently, and significantly, quieter than indoor sessions. This held true for every session conducted at every school. Teacher-led carpet time sessions were quieter outdoors, as were child-led choosing times where the children were actively playing and learning. On average, the noise difference was around 3 decibels.
Stress levels outdoors vs inside
As part of this study, the children also wore heart rate monitors whilst spending time in indoor and outdoor learning environments. These heart rate monitors were used as a measure of physiological stress.
The study results showed that overall, children’s resting heart rates were significantly lower outdoors compared to when they did the same activities inside. On average, children’s heart rates were around 3bpm slower outside, suggesting that they were less stressed in the outdoor environment.
However, although this was the overall trend, results did vary across individuals, e.g. one child’s heart rate was 18bpm lower outside, for others their heart rates were generally the same indoors and outside, and for some, their heart rates were actually lower indoors.
Relationships between noise levels and stress
‘…outdoor environments might be more supportive when children are trying to regulate their levels of stress and stimulation.’
The data showed that in the indoor classroom, there was a significant positive correlation between noise levels and heart rate – as noise levels increased, so did heart rate. This is what we would have expected – children become more stimulated and stressed as it becomes noisier. However, interestingly, this significant correlation didn’t apply to the outdoor classroom – even when noise levels increased, children’s heart rates didn’t increase accordingly as they did when the children were inside. This suggests that something about the outdoor environment may buffer children against the stressful effects of noise. This means outdoor environments might be more supportive when children are trying to regulate their levels of stress and stimulation.
Thinking about implications for practice
In the podcast episode I discuss and unpick the findings in more depth, including tapping into some implications for setting up learning environments, such as sound proofing and improving the acoustic quality of classrooms.
Coming in the next article and episode of this series:
More results from the study –
– How being outdoors affected children’s attention
– How being outdoors affected children’s behaviour
Key takeaways
- Excess noise can be detrimental to children’s learning
- Outdoor sessions were significantly quieter for both teacher-led carpet activities and child-led choosing time
- Children’s heart rates were significantly lower outdoors suggesting lower levels of physiological stress
- Noise and heart rate were significantly correlated indoors but not outside, suggesting that being outdoors may buffer children from the stressful effects of noise
- Although there was an overall pattern of lower heart rates outdoors, this was not true for every individual child. Choice and autonomy about whether to be indoors or outside is important as no single environment is optimal for all children.
Critical considerations
- Do some children that you work with seem more comfortable and relaxed outdoors?
- What are the noisiest parts of your day? Could outdoor time help children reset their stress levels after noisy periods?
- When child appear dysregulated or overstimulated, could time outside help them to regulate?
Explainer
Measures of physiological stress – Measuring a physical/biological indicator of stress e.g. heart rate, blood pressure, cortisol, rather than asking individuals about their feelings/emotions related to stress.
Resting heart rates – How many times the heart beats per minute when the individual is sitting still
Decibel meter – Instrument for measuring noise levels
Significantly – If a research result is significant, this means that statistical analyses predict that the chance of the results occurring due to chance are equal to, or less than 0.05 (5%).
Correlated – When 2 things have a relationship or connection
References
Bhang, S. Y., Yoon, J., Sung, J., Yoo, C., Sim, C., Lee, C., … & Lee, J., 2018. Comparing attention and cognitive function in school children across noise conditions: A quasi-experimental study. Psychiatry Investigation, 15(6), 620.
Manlove, E. E., Frank, T., & Vernon-Feagans, L., 2001, February. Why should we care about noise in classrooms and child care settings?. In Child and youth care forum (Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 55-64). Kluwer Academic Publishers-Plenum Publishers.
Maxwell, L.E., & Evans, G., 1999. The effects on pre-school children’s pre-reading skills. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 20, 91 – 97.
Shield, B. M., & Dockrell, J. E., 2003. The effects of noise on children at school: A review. Building Acoustics, 10(2), 97-116.s. The Journal of the Acoustical Society of America, 115(2), 730-738.
Vander Ghinst, M., Bourguignon, M., Niesen, M., Wens, V., Hassid, S., Choufani, G., Jousmäki, V., Hari, R., Goldman, S. and De Tiège, X., 2019. Cortical tracking of speech-in-noise develops from childhood to adulthood. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(15), pp.2938-2950.
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