Young Children's Preferences for School-Related Physical-Environmental Setting Characteristics

Environmental preferences for size, shape, color, complexity, texture, and lighting within a school-related setting were examined among kindergarten and firstgrade school children. Using a guided "story-walk" as a prop, each characteristic was presented to the child in simplified pictorial contexts incorporating the school and its immediate surroundings. It was found that children discriminate, in selected fashion, in their preferential responses to physical-environmental characteristics of the environment. Findings of principal interest suggest that boys and girls respond differently to environmental features such as color, shape, light, and complexity, with girls demonstrating stronger preference for more diverse and dramatic environmental stimuli than do boys. The significance of this finding for evaluating spatial-cognitive knowledge among boys and girls is discussed.