Most educators know a room can lift or flatten a group's mood. Older students often move between several rooms a day, and each lesson asks them to focus hard. This study asked whether living plants in a classroom make a difference, even when students spend just one lesson there.
The researchers ran three experiments in the Netherlands with 70 first-year university students, 213 secondary school students aged 12 to 18, and 161 vocational school students aged 15 to 27. Some vocational students studied animal care and horticulture (plant growing). The team placed potted plants, green walls (panels covered in living plants) or vases of flowers in some classrooms and left others unchanged. Students then completed short questionnaires and attention tasks during lessons, at several points over a few weeks.
The researchers found:
- Students preferred green classrooms. At all three schools, students rated rooms with plants, green walls or flowers as more attractive than unchanged rooms. They usually gave them a higher grade too. University students scored the green rooms about one point higher out of ten.
- The preference lasted. At the two secondary-level schools, students still favored the green rooms about a month after the plants arrived. It wasn't just the novelty.
- Secondary school students focused better and enjoyed lessons more. In the green rooms, students aged 12 to 18 said they found it easier to concentrate. They also rated their lessons and teachers more highly.
- One lesson didn't clearly change well-being. Stress, tiredness and complaints like headaches showed no clear change. Most students reported low stress and few complaints to begin with, leaving little room to improve.
- Plants, flowers and green walls worked in similar ways. Flowers were harder to manage, though. They had to be replaced weekly and faded in between, while potted plants stayed fresh.
If you teach indoors, whether in a classroom, nature center or visitor center, living plants are a simple way to make your space more inviting. Students in this study noticed and valued the change. Some ideas to try:
- Choose sturdy plants that suit your light. The researchers picked plants with growers, based on toughness, how much daylight the room got, and looks.
- Put plants where people see them. At the secondary school, plants were placed so students saw them on entering and while facing the front. At the vocational school, the team grouped plants into "islands" and used platforms to raise them to eye level.
- You don't need a jungle. The secondary school room with just five large pots still showed benefits.
- Pick potted plants over cut flowers if time is tight. Flowers worked too, but needed weekly replacing.
- Green the places where people rest. The researchers suggest nature may help well-being most when people need to unwind, such as in break or study spaces. A quiet corner, lunch area or staff room could be a good place to start.
- Don't treat plants as a quick fix for stress. One session in a green room didn't calm students. See plants as part of a pleasant setting over time.
- Know your group. Students on animal care and horticulture courses gave the green rooms lower grades than the other groups did. The researchers think plants may feel less special to people who work with them every day.
- Ask your learners. A quick 1-to-10 rating of your space, like the one used here, before and after a change could show you what they notice.
The Bottom Line
The researchers brought plants, green walls and flowers into classrooms at three Dutch schools and asked 444 students about single lessons in those rooms. At all three schools, students rated the green classrooms as more attractive places to learn, and this preference held weeks after the plants arrived. At the secondary school, students aged 12 to 18 also said they concentrated better and rated their lessons and teachers more highly in the green rooms. A single lesson did not clearly change students' stress, tiredness or health complaints, but these were low from the start. For educators, adding a few living plants is a simple way to make a learning space more welcoming. The researchers suggest nature may do the most for well-being in spaces where people go to rest and recover.