Unlike fluorescent lighting, LED’s are mercury-free, heat-free and are 100% recyclable—making them the most environmentally safe lighting option. Using less energy than any lighting technology on the market, LED’s will cut energy and maintenance costs drastically.

When overviewing a school’s expenses, energy is one that can be decreased without negatively impacting student learning. By replacing a T12 fluorescent tube with a LED T8, a facility can reduce its energy consumption by 35 percent. Then adding options such as reflectors, lenses, sensors and timers can increase potential savings even more. Learn about Light Boss our SMART IoT wireless system and how you can save even more money.

Many education facilities still operate using fluorescent, or even incandescent lighting and spend more money trying to compensate for the heat generated from outdated fixtures than the fixture itself. These expenses could be used towards other areas of the facility that need more attention. A lighting upgrade could reduce energy the facility uses for lighting by 70 to 85 percent.

As discussed in the last section, circadian rhythm not only has an impact on student productivity and physical health, but it also impacts mental health. Cooler color temperatures in the morning hours will help students wake up and focus on their schoolwork. Helping students become more alert will help their mental cognition and ability to learn and comprehend material.

Like color temperatures, light levels are also very important in the classroom. Bright lighting is used to treat various types of depression including Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), or the “winter blues”.This happens usually during the winter months when people aren’t exposed to enough sunlight during the day and is very common in school and office environments. Spending too much time in a dimly lit room can negatively affect mood and cause someone to feel depressed. That’s why bright lighting is so useful for depression treatments—it helps encourage bright and cheery moods. Dim lighting can also negatively impact what information is received and stored in the brain. If it is too dim to read, the wrong information might be read and sent to the brain.

Recent study

A recent study has shown that artificial lighting that stimulates daylighting can increase concentration and cognitive performance in students. The research in this study found that the lighting provided stimulation to the body that mimicked being outdoors. To help students become more alert earlier in the day, this caused their circadian rhythms to shift forward (in time). Some students were even able to tell a difference in their mood and concentration. Daylighting has also been shown to improve mood, mental performance, alertness and brain activity while decreasing depression, stress, sadness and violent behaviour.

The Importance of Light Quality

Many students who enter school already have visual problems—i.e. focusing, eye tracking, training, lazy eye, strabismus, etc. It’s important to not make it more difficult for those students to properly see all areas of the classroom as well as ease of navigating the rest of the school.

Glare and flicker can also negatively impact not only the students, but the teachers as well. Glare can cause students and teachers to squint, blink or look away. It’s caused one of two things: luminance is too high, or luminance ratios are too high. When one of these is occurring, visual performance will be decreased and discomfort will be increased.

There are two types of glare: discomfort and disability glare. Discomfort glare is the annoying sensation or pain caused by glare, while disability glare reduces visibility. Disability glare is caused by light being scattered in the eye, which then reduces luminance contrast of the retinal image.

Fluorescent lighting has also been shown to bother students with autism. People with autism tend to have sensitivity to the sub-visible flicker of direct fluorescent lighting. This can cause headaches, eyestrain and increased repetitive behavior. LEDs do not flicker when fully dimmed, making them a great option for special education classrooms.

Color temperatures also play a huge role in the health of students. Studies have shown that cool color temperatures (4100K – 5000K) can improve the behavior of students who are hyperactive or have learning disadvantages. The cool light color helps them focus and concentrate on tasks and projects. Hyperactivity is also related to a radiation stress condition, and the radiation emitted from fluorescent lighting fixtures can make it worse. When exposure to this radiation is reduced, behavior and performance can improve.

Another important biological function that depends on proper lighting is our circadian rhythm. It helps our bodies determine when to wake up, when to go to sleep, and even when to concentrate and when to relax. Without proper lighting that matches our circadian rhythm, our sleep-awake cycle can get thrown off. Students who aren’t getting enough sleep will not be able to perform to their full potential in the classroom.

Create a productive Learning Environment

Proper lighting in schools can have numerous positive impacts on student productivity. It can create a more effective learning environment, which can lead to improved test scores, enhanced learning and increased overall student productivity.

As mentioned in previous sections, color temperature can impact students’ visual skills—this directly influences academic performance. Students should be able to switch between areas in the room without any visual interruption or changes due to lighting.

Sticking to these recommendations and adjusting the classroom lighting throughout the day will also help match students’ biological clocks and keep them productive.

A study conducted by Dr. Michael Schulte-Markwort, Director of the Clinic for Psychosomatics in Children and Juveniles at the University Medical Centre Hamburg-Eppendorf studied 166 children, ages 8-16 and 18 teachers to determine the effect of light on learning behavior. Teachers had four light control options:

NORMAL – for regular classroom activities
ENERGY – to invigorate when children need to be more active
FOCUS – aid concentration during challenging tasks
CALM – to relax during individual work or quiet time

Installing LED lighting in school facilities is detrimental to the health, safety and academic performance of its students. There are many elements in a school that impact student learning, such as noise level, scheduling, classroom design, sleep time and more. These can’t easily be controlled, but lighting is an aspect that can be changed to improve students’ learning and their environment.

Learning and development occur in stages, and lighting can play a huge role in those stages: physical, cognitive and socio-emotional development. Starting with motor skills, moving toward how our brain functions and then establishing a sense of self and relationships with other people. Lighting affects multiple areas of our lives; it shapes how we sleep, our mood and our motivation and concentration. That’s why it’s vital to pay close attention to the lighting in schools, and change those lighting systems to improve the lives of today’s students.