The use of full -spectrum lighting to enhance academic achievement, attendance, sense of well being, and on -task behavior in the special education student population
Abstract
The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of full spectrum lighting as a way of enhancing academic achievement, attendance, sense of well being, and on task behavior in the special education middle school student population. The study lasted thirty days and involved six resource classrooms from two middle schools located in the southeastern region of the United States. The sample consisted of eighty eight students, thirty five in the control group and fifty three in the experimental group. Data was collected in the following areas: individual scores on pre and post test in all academic subjects, individual weekly grade averages in all academic subjects, individual daily attendance records, individual weekly totals of off task behaviors, and a bi-monthly survey covering nine areas relating to the students perception of their environment and sense of well being. The Statistical Program for the Social Sciences was used to analyze the data. Tests ran include an MANOVA, ANOVA, single and two tailed t tests. The MANOVA was used due to the unequal sample sizes and the large number of dependent variables measured. The study examined and tested four hypotheses for significance at the .05 level. The first hypothesis, which stated that there will be no significant difference between the academic achievement of special education students who are exposed to full spectrum lighting and those special education students exposed to regular cool white fluorescent lighting was partially accepted and partially rejected. The hypothesis was accepted for the curriculum subjects of English, Math, and Reading. The hypothesis was rejected for the curriculum subjects of Science and History. The second hypothesis, which stated that there will be no significant difference between the on task behavior exhibited by the special education students who are exposed to full spectrum lighting and those special education students exposed to regular cool white fluorescent lighting, was rejected. The third hypothesis, which stated that there will be no significant difference between the attendance rate of special education students who are exposed to full spectrum lighting and those special education students exposed to regular cool white fluorescent lighting, was accepted. The forth hypothesis, which stated that there will be no significant difference between the over-all sense of wellness and the positive thought process of self, of special education students who are exposed to full spectrum lighting and those special education students exposed to regular cool white fluorescent lighting was accepted.
Subject Area
Educational psychology|Special education
Recommended Citation
Andrew Bruce Battles,
"The use of full -spectrum lighting to enhance academic achievement, attendance, sense of well being, and on -task behavior in the special education student population"
(2006).
ETD Collection for Tennessee State University.
Paper AAI3239647.
https://digitalscholarship.tnstate.edu/dissertations/AAI3239647