The Effect Of Color On Children’s Creativity And Learning Processes

Rationale of the Research

Discuss About The Application Ordered Classification Modeling?

The research aims to find out the effect of colour on the creativity of children in learning spaces.  It has been found that the presence of vibrant colours indoor have been seen to fast pace the learning process in children. A detailed research has been conducted in the later sections for finding out sufficient evidences for supporting the analysis.

Colour is one of the most important attributes of learning during the childhood days. In designing of kid spaces colour serves as an important building block. As commented by Blair and Raver (2014), bright colours have been associated with emotional well being in children. In mathematics colour recognition is used to sort, categorise, compare and operations learning. Some of the colours such as red can be used to teach the children regarding danger signs. As mentioned by Tatsuoka  et al. (2016), colour is a part of the electromagnetic spectrum and consists of both wavelength and frequency. Colour can connect the neuropathways of the brain and enhance the learning process in children (Francis-Williams 2014). For example, children have been seen to take profound interest upon learning a subject on provision of a colourful textbook rather than boring and extensive written matter. Further research and experiments have shown that brightful colours can produce calming effect in children by helping them cope up with learning difficulties. As mentioned by Duncan et al. (2018), colour brings about a positive reflex by increasing perspiration.  The effect produced by individual colours varies in children, as the ones producing calming effect in one child may excite the other children. As reported by Wright et al. (2017), the blue colour has been seen to favour creativity amidst a relaxing and cool environment. A range of other colours have been seen to promote different expressions in children. Here, red has been seen as excess stimulus and initiate strong responses in children. Yellow has been seen to initiate happiness in children.

The colour when used in study rooms have been seen to enhance concentration, whereas green have been seen to promote better health in children. As argued by Tatsuoka  et al. (2016), pink has been seen to lower the palpitation rates in children, whereas orange enhances critical thinking and memory patterns in growing children. However, the response pattern varies widely across children of different age groups. It involves neurocritical factors along with psychological emotions triggered by different colours (Duncan et al. 2018).

Research Objectives and Outcomes

Though sufficient amount of research has been conducted elucidating the effect of colours on enhancing learning and development in children, there lays a number of biases. This is because each child has been seen to react differently to individual colours, their textures and warmth. The research here has been undertaken in order to understand the cause of the literature biases as well as remove them.

The objectives of the research can be divided into a number of components which helps in arriving at acceptable results. The primary aim is to study the importance of colours in enhancing the learning process in children. This is because the colours have been seen to produce variable responses in children along with producing a strong effect on concentration and memory (Kovacs et al. 2015). In this section a number of research objectives will be framed which will be explored in the due course of the research. Some of the research objectives are:

• To understand the relationship between colours and children
• To critically evaluate the effect of colours on learning spaces of children
• To critically identify the outcome of colours on the creativity of children

In the following section a well researched review based upon secondary literature sources will be provided for highlighting the importance of colours in shaping up the learning process in children. The literature review will be critically evaluated base upon a number of theories and models.

The literature review will be followed by a research methodology, where a number of inquiry systems will be compared in order to find out the best suited method. Additionally, the methods used for planning the research for a year will also be provided. For the following research the data will be collected using survey initiated through playful activities. Here, the kids will be asked to pick up cue cards from a bunch of cards of different colours. Each time a specific cue card picked up by a child will help in identification of the preferable colour options of the child (AL?Ayash et al. 2016). For the conduct of the process consent will be taken from the parents of the children as well as the teachers and the administrative staff catering to the learning needs of the children within the kindergarten.

The systems of inquiry can be divided into three different types such as an inductive, deductive and abductive approach. In inductive reasoning theories and observations are proposed at the end of the research (Creswell and Poth  2017). The inductive approach helps in development of theories through testing patterns and resemblances. In inductive analysis, the researcher initially develops empirical generalisations and gradually tests the preliminary relationships as they progress through the research. In inductive reasoning the researcher uses as bottoms-up approach in which the researcher uses observation to develop a clear picture of the topic under study (Brannen 2017).

Comparison of System of Inquiry

A deductive approach on the other hand develops a hypothesis based on existing theories. The approach adopted over here is shifting from a particular aspect to a more general aspect. Deductive approach is based upon deriving conclusions from prior stated hypothesis.  As argued by Mertens (2014), there are a number of benefits of using deductive approaches in researches such as the one is supported by abundant resources. It follows the path of logic more closely and is supported by already published articles and journals. As mentioned by Creswell and Poth (2017), the approach is not just based on mere observations and data and therefore the chances of committing mistakes are less over here.

The abductive approach helps in overcoming the weakness or the loopholes attached with both the deductive and inductive approaches. The deductive approach lacks clarity regarding the method of selection of appropriate theories to be tested. As argued by Mertens (2014), inductive reasoning mentions that no empirical data are sufficient in building of relevant theories. Abductive reasoning on the other hand adopts a pragmatist perspective (Barrett et al. 2015). In abductive approach, the research process starts with a puzzle or question, which is evaluated through the course of the research in order to arrive at a justifiable result. The researcher combines numerical and cognitive reasoning for arriving at a well accepted solution. However, as argued by Merriam and Tisdell (2015), the abductive reasoning is based upon incomplete observations and therefore always may not be true; whereas the deductive reasoning helps in arriving at a specific conclusion from a generalised theory.

For the current research, a deductive approach will be used by the researcher as the approach helps in establishing a relationship between the variables and concepts.  The methods will help in business-law of the concepts quantitatively. It will help in arriving at a more generalised theory from particular data and observations. The quantitative methods used will help in the establishment of statistically significant results. Additionally, for conducting the research a post positivism philosophy will be used by the researcher which will adhere to factual knowledge gained through observations (Meyers et al. 2016). This will further support the deductive research approach adopted by the author.

The research identifies the impact of colours on the learning spaces of children in kindergarten. Though, previous research attempts had been undertaken in the same area number of research gaps exists. The study will help in removing the biases and arrive at a more comprehensive theory. A case study/combined method will be used for the current research study where sufficient data will be gathered from secondary literature sources. Additionally, an experimental research design will be used over here through which the relationship between different dependent and independent variable will be established (McCusker and Gunaydin 2015). Here, the learning and creativity in children will be treated as dependent variables whereas colours would be treated as independent variable.

Methods Used in Planning of the Research

In the current research positivist research philosophy will be chosen where the data will be collected through sufficient numerical data and factual knowledge. It will help the researcher in arriving at statistically significant results. The positivist philosophy will help in reducing the phenomenon to the simplest results (Creswell and Creswell 2017).

A case study analysis will be used to conduct the research study where data will be collected from different literature sources. In this respect, a number of secondary databases will be used by the researcher such as NCBI, Pubmed, etc. The case study analysis will help in focusing upon the loopholes in the existing knowledge by comparison with sufficient evidences gathered from similar experimental designs (Van Manen 2016).

The experimental design adopted will help the researcher in establishing the relationship between different variables, where tightly controlling one variable can produce significant results on the other variable (Berger 2015). The experimental design will further help the researcher in testing particular theories. As commented by Byers et al. (2014), a comparative study through different case study analysis can help in removing the biases of the established facts and theories.

The method of data collection could be divided into two basic types which are-primary data collection methods and secondary data collection methods. The primary data collection method uses survey and interviews for the collection of the data, whereas the secondary data collection focuses upon data collection through studying important journals and online databases (Moser and Kalton 2017). In the current study, the researcher will be using use mixed methods for collection of data. A number of secondary databases will be used by the researcher for understanding- ‘the relationship between colours and children’. It has been noted that the construction and decoration of a place often acts as a stimulus for shaping positive thoughts within an individual (Fellows and Liu 2015).

For the analysis of the data two different types of data analysis methods could be mentioned over here which are – qualitative and quantitative analysis. In this research primary quantitative data collection methods will be used by the researcher. The quantitative methods will help in arriving at statistically significant results, where the results will be represented as significant percentage (McCusker and Gunaydi 2015). A survey questionnaire will be used over here where the children will be given a number of cure cards of different colours. They would be made part of fun activities where they would be asked to pick up cue cards randomly at the end of the exercise. The colours selected by them would represent their individual preferences for colours, which could be used in designing their learning spaces (Groat and Wang 2013). The exercise will be repeated under different situations for understanding- ‘the effect colour produces on the creativity of children in learning spaces’.

In this study both primary quantitative and secondary data collection process will be used by the researcher.  However, for conducting the experimental study with the children, consent needs to be taken from their parents. The children should not be forced to participate in the experimentation process in the absence of their parents, as this will be a breach of research ethics. The case studies used for conducting the research study should be provided with bibliography or full reference list. This will help in avoiding plagiarism along with maintaining the ownership rights. Additionally, conducting the experiment in a room adorned with warm colours could generate positive participatory spirits within the children (Moloney et al. 2015).

Conclusion

The aim of the research is to understand the effect of colours in enhancing learning and creativity in kindergarten children. The research will aim at removing the biases from the different literature sources cited.  The use of case studies along with survey will help in collection of both primary and secondary research data. The comparison through the different data collected will help in arriving at an absolute result.

For the current research study, the researcher will use a case study analysis with quantitative survey. The literature analysis will be done by the researcher from week 1 through week 5. The analysis of different case studies report will allow the researcher to find out the research gap. In order to analyse the research gap, the researcher will conduct a survey. Additionally, following an experimental design will help the researcher in drawing a relationship with the existing theories. Since, it is a one year study therefore, the  comparative analysis will help the researcher in  coping up with the lack of resources.

The primary and secondary research methodology used in the current study helps in gathering and the comparison of data. The secondary data collected in the research process will be grouped into similar dissimilar data. The similar data will be made into themes which will be further used for doing thematic analysis. There is no hard and fast rule regarding the number of case studies to be selected for doing the assignment. However as mentioned by Vaux and Wang (2016), the research question and the amount of time allotted for conducting the  study is crucial in understanding the effect of the attributes upon one another. Similarly, the survey conducted will help in the collection of practical data. The quantitative data collected will be used by the researcher for presentation of statistically significant results.

In the current study, the time frame of the research will be limited to 11 weeks only.  Here, more than one case study will be used for doing the analysis. This is because if sufficient data cannot be gathered from a single source of literature, other literature sources could be tampered. We will start with the secondary analysis by selecting multiple numbers of case studies. Ultimately we will narrow down to a selected few which will be referred to by us for conducting the research study. The case studies with relatively current data will be selected first whereas the rest will be kept as back up for later referral. The selection of the case studies will be done within the first three weeks from the start of the research plan.

We will start the survey process from the fifth week onwards where the children will be provided with a number of cue cards of different colours. The selection of the cue cards will help in understanding the preferences of colours of the children. The same activity will be repeated in different scenarios and the responses of the children noted.  The number of selections made by the children through the activity will be used by the researcher as important data which will be used for the formulation of statistically significant results (Moloney et al. 2015). Consent taking and approval forms an important component of the entire research design. In this respect, intimation forms need to be distributed amongst the parents of the kindergarten children three weeks prior to the beginning of the exercise. The case study analysis and the quantitative data collection will run almost parallel to each other.  The primary and secondary data will be critically analysed in order to remove the biases from the research process.

Timeline/research plan-

Gantt chart

(Source: author)

References

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