The Impact of Lighting on Children's Learning and Well-being

Myriam Aries is a professor of Lighting Science at the School of Engineering of Jönköping University in Sweden. She is an expert in the field of dynamic light application and its effects on health, well-being, and human performance.

A lot comes back to dynamic light, just like daylight. The lighting should match the task that one performs and could support daily rhythms. It can affect both the student’s well-being in the long run as well as the short term. Substandard light affects sleep, which influences health, but also concentration and mood, among other things.

Myriam Aries, professor of Lighting Science at the School of Engineering of Jönköping University in Sweden.

You are a professor of Lighting Science. How did you find this area of expertise?

“I originally wanted to become an architect but realized that I found the specific detailing and technical components more interesting than the general shaping of the building. An assignment in the lighting field became my introduction to the subject.”

How did your research in schools come about?

“My research focused predominantly on office environments, but since I work at a school, we thought that also there we should practice what we preach and contribute to further improvement of our own work and learning areas. Both are environments where many people spend a lot of time and that makes it very interesting and relevant. Both have users in slightly different age groups, especially if you broaden the school environment to primary and secondary schools.”

How does one create ideal lighting in educational environments?

“In a classroom, you will often see desks with rows of luminaries over them, and a teacher in front of the class. However, these days, students do not just sit and listen to the teacher all the time. There are more interactive activities, like group assignments where students perform workshops. In many classrooms, the light remains static and cannot be adjusted to the activity or time of the day. This is what we need to investigate for optimization.”

“A lot comes back to dynamic light, just like daylight. The lighting should match the task that one performs and could support daily rhythms. It can affect both the student’s well-being in the long run as well as the short term. Substandard light affects sleep, which influences health, but also concentration and mood, among other things.”

For children with special needs, substandard lighting can be a major issue. In 2014, research in the Netherlands showed that 69 percent of a group of adults with ADHD reported hyper sensitivity to light.

Does lack of daylight in the winter affect the design needs?

“Yes, you cannot rely on daylight contributions all year, particularly in Northern Europe. This puts more pressure on electric solutions. I strongly recommend not to just fill schools with strong LED panels in the ceiling that provide the same level of light all day. Lighting in schools may have to compensate quite a bit when students do not get to see the sun. This issue is a bit less for primary and secondary schools as these pupils go much more outside during breaks than university students.”

“While we advise people to get light in the morning, sudden, intense light is not very comfortable. Ideally, the light indoors should gradually increase to simulate the natural light that we do not get this time of the year, instead of just on/off.”

Does light affect young children and teenagers differently?

​​​“Younger children have very bright lenses and their pupils can easily adapt to more or less light. The older you get the more yellow your lens will be, which reduces the perception of blue light. However, this is more applicable to life-long learners than to teenagers!”

“Another difference is their chronotypes, which can be described as a natural preference for waking up. Young children are usually early chronotypes and like to get up early in the morning. This preference gets later and later until you are about 19-20 years old. After that, the chronotype tends to get earlier again. This is a natural process and teenagers have different sleep patterns than young children.”

“In general, a designer should always consider the age of those in the building because their activities and demands vary. Do they remain in the same classroom and go outside to play after lunch? Or do they use several rooms and buildings?”

How can you make sure to find the optimal solutions for a healthy learning environment?

“Finding an optimal solution is difficult, but it is important to have good advisors, especially in the public sector with all its essential buildings such as schools. The lighting in many buildings today is not determined by actual lighting designers, but often rather by installers. An expert can go further than meeting just the basic requirements. They take lighting standards, cost, social sustainability, but also the target users’ needs into consideration.”

Does using digital devices change the lighting needs?

“Some lighting requirements still come from the time when we worked a lot with paper. However, computer screens, interactive screens, and tablets can no longer be ignored in the modern learning environment. High glossy screens, both horizontally and vertically applied or used, can be a challenge in creating good visual comfort and preventing glare.”

“The use of LED-based screens is usually not a big problem during the day. However, use in the evenings is not recommended due to their effect on the production of the dark hormone melatonin. Light sources with a high proportion of ‘short wavelengths’ give our body a signal that it is still day and that we can postpone sleep for a while. Sleep is very important for good health, especially in developing young children!”

Light in Adapteo classrooms

• Adapteo calculates and designs lightning solutions in all Adapteo buildings to fit the project needs. In learning environments, it is beneficial to be able to adjust light levels depending on learning activity and method.
• Adapteo modules combine natural light and good artificial lighting. The illuminance on the work surfaces and classrooms is 500 lux (and adjustable), which suits reading and other precise work.