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Researchers have found that the presence of houseplants in homes and workplaces can reduce eye irritation and stress, motivate employees, improve concentration, and even reduce air impurities. Plants appeared to have a positive effect on headaches and fatigue and hoarseness, and employees even reported having less dry skin when plants were introduced to offices. Interior plants have also been shown to increase work productivity; in one study, employees' reaction time on computer tasks improved by 12% when plants were present.
Now, scientists are testing the impact of plants on student performance and satisfaction in the classroom. Jennifer S. Doxey and Tina Marie Waliczek from the Department of Agriculture, Texas State University, and Jayne M. Zajicek of the Department of Horticultural Sciences, Texas A&M University, published a study of the impact of plants in university classrooms in a recent issue of HortScience. Their main objective was to investigate the impact of plants in classrooms on course performance and student perceptions of the course and instructor.
Although the researchers found no significant differences in students' grades and academic performance, differences were identified in students' overall course and instructor evaluation scores. Of particular interest, statistically significant differences were found between control and treatment groups when students scored questions related to "learning", "instructors' enthusiasm", and "instructors' organization". Students from the group whose classrooms included plants rated these items higher on the satisfaction scale. In comparisons of the two student groups, the most apparent differences were reported by students who attended class in the room that was windowless and stark.
According to Waliczek, "Our results showed that interior plants appeared to have the greatest impact on students who were in the classroom that had no other natural elements. Results also showed that interior plants can be a suitable alternative in some cases to architectural elements such as windows. Our study supports other research showing that plants have value beyond aesthetics in interior environments, including promoting positive feelings in university students."
The complete study and abstract are available on the ASHS Hortscience electronic journal web site: The Impact of Interior Plants in University Classrooms on Student Course Performance and on Student Perceptions of the Course and Instructor -- Doxey et al. 44 (2): 384 -- HortScience
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Plants In Classrooms Increase Student Satisfaction
This is a puzzle. If plants release VOCs how come all the reseach says VOCs go down ie plants lower or remove VOCs. Can someone explain this?
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The study concluded that "while ornamental plants are known to remove certain VOCs, they also emit a variety of VOCs, some of which are known to be biologically active. The longevity of these compounds has not been adequately studied, and the impact of these compounds on humans is unknown."
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Indoor Plants Found To Release Volatile Organic Compounds
Knowing about natural bug control might be important. If we have a trillion indoor plants we could also have a billion idots with pesticide spray cans!
House Plant Pests: Spider Mite Control, Getting Rid Of Aphids
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Unfortunately, it’s also filled with low-level toxins. The air inside our houses can be three times more polluted than the air outside.
According to the EPA, indoor air is considered among the leading five hazards to human health. For many of us, that’s easy enough to shrug off: Open a window until the paint dries, right? But for those with health concerns, allergies or breathing problems, that might not be good enough. Those toxins — which come from the solvent that sticks the paint pigment to your walls and then evaporates — linger long past the new paint smell. In fact, household paints and finishes emit low level toxins into the air for years after application. For children (and what’s a major step in readying a nursery? New paint!) this can present a greater danger.
But, before you give up on plans for a new shade in the living room, check out low volatile organic compounds (VOC) options.
What the heck is low VOC paint, anyway
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Low VOC: The Fresher Coat of Paint*>>*Lazy Environmentalist
Isn't that-
According to the EPA, indoor air is considered among the leading five hazards to human health.-- sad?
I went to one of the biggest "Malls" i've been in recently- the Macquarie Centre (sydney suburbs). I remember it as a grassy farm-paddock. Now it is so big it has its own underground railway station. I felt like a country bumpkin as I explored its huge underground caverns /caves, The sound was strange, echoing rumble mixed with indecipherable musak and shop-lifting alarms. These whent off when every tenth person (it seemed) went past- no one seemed to pay any attention.
But the air, the air was very strange. It didn't 'feel' good or healthy. Very few plants all indistinguishable from plastic. A strange, alien future-world we are making for ourselves. (Yourselves?).
