Young Children's Preferences for School-Related Physical-Environmental Setting Characteristics

Abstract

Environmental preferences for size, shape, color, complexity, texture, and lighting within a school-related setting were examined among kindergarten and firstgrade school children. Using a guided "story-walk" as a prop, each characteristic was presented to the child in simplified pictorial contexts incorporating the school and its immediate surroundings. It was found that children discriminate, in selected fashion, in their preferential responses to physical-environmental characteristics of the environment. Findings of principal interest suggest that boys and girls respond differently to environmental features such as color, shape, light, and complexity, with girls demonstrating stronger preference for more diverse and dramatic environmental stimuli than do boys. The significance of this finding for evaluating spatial-cognitive knowledge among boys and girls is discussed.

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Axia, G. (1988). Language and orientation: Memory for root elements in verbal descriptions by children and adults. In H. Van Hoogdalem , N. L. Prak , T. J. M. van der Voordt , & H. B. R. van Wegen (Eds.), Looking back to the future (pp.513-521). Delft, Netherlands: Delft University Press.

Axia, G. , Baroni, M. R. , & Mainardi Peron, E. (1988). Representation of familiar places in children and adults: Verbal reports as a method of studying environmental knowledge. Journal of Environmental Psychology,8, 123-139.

Blades, M. (1989). Children's ability to learn about the environment from direct experience and from spatial representations. Children's Environments Quarterly,6, 4-14.

Cohen, S. , & Trostle, S. (1988). Choice and stability of young children's preferences for physical-environmental setting characteristics. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 66, 187-191.

Frost, J. L. , & Campbell, S. D. (1985). Equipment choices of primary-age children on conventional and creative playgrounds. In J. L. Frost & S. Sundlin (Eds.), When children play (pp. 89-92). Wheaton, MD: Association for Childhood Education International.

Frost, J. L. , & Strickland, E. (1985). Equipment choices of young children during free play. In J. L. Frost & S. Sundlin (Eds.), When children play (pp. 93-101). Wheaton, MD: Association for Childhood Education International.

Hart, R. (1979). Children's experience of place. New York: Irvington.

Mathews, M. H. (1986). The influence of gender on the environmental cognition of young boys and girls. Journal of Genetic Psychology, 147, 295-302.

Moore, G. T. (in press). Effects of the spatial definition of behavior settings on children's behavior: A quasi-experimental field study. Journal of Environmental Psychology.

10.

Munchow, M., & Munchow, H. (1978). Derlebensraum desgrosstadtkindes. Bensheim: Pad. Extra. (Original work published in 1935)

11.

Nash, B. C. (1981). The effects of classroom spatial organization on four-and-five-year old children's learning. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 51, 144-155.

12.

Olds, A. R. (1979). Designing developmentally optimal classrooms for children with special needs. In S. J. Meisels (Ed.), Special education and development: Perspectives on young children with special needs. Baltimore, MD: University Park Press.

13.

Proshansky, H. M. , & Fabian, A. K. (1987). In C. S. Weinstein & T. G. David (Eds.), Spaces for children (pp. 21-40). New York: Plenum.

14.

Sebba, R. , & Churchman, A. (1986). Schoolyard design as an expression of educational principles. Children's Environments Quarterly, 3, 70-76.