Research carried out at The Royal College of Agriculture in Circencester has found that plants boost the learning potential for students.

Amanda Read carried out the research as part of her BSc in Horticulture.  She monitored the attendance and behaviour of a group of 34 students over the course of an academic year during a weekly series of lectures. 

The location of the lectures alternated each week between a room with plants and a room without plants.

Students were videoed and observed for inattentive behaviour i.e. day dreaming, talking, fidgeting and yawning.  Any signs were recorded and the total number of incidents per lecture calculated.

Read herself a confessed plant lover commented, “I expected to find that many students preferred the rooms with plants mainly via positive comments, but instead I found a significant difference in behaviour.”

Students attending the lectures in the planted rooms were much less inattentive!  Behavioural signals were reduced by 70%!

Students were virtually 100% more likely to return to lectures in the planted rooms after lectures.  When the rooms were unplanted this return rate was just over 86%.

Read will carry out further research comparing the students' exam results and exam questions selected with reference to the room environment in which the topic was taught.

This research is supported by Rentokil Tropical Plants.

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