Inattention and the Classroom Visual Environment: Evidence of Incidental Learning

ABSTRACT Highly decorated classroom visual environments can be a source of distraction that may hamper children's learning. Reductions in learning are hypothesized to be due to children dividing their attention between the features of the visual environment and lesson content; however, to date, there is no direct evidence to support this possibility. We test this hypothesis by examining whether kindergarten children ( N = 23) in the United States incidentally encode their visual environment while off‐task and whether attention to the environment is associated with reduced learning. Results indicate children encoded features of the classroom visual environment with reasonable accuracy. Critically, the more time children spent off‐task, the better they encoded the classroom displays, and the worse they performed on the learning assessments. These findings highlight the importance of re‐conceptualizing how classroom environments are designed in order to reduce attentional competition and better support children's learning.