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1. Physical environment 2. Schedules, time pressures, and constraints 3. Chaos and confusion 4. Basic needs 5. Social-emotional culture These everyday stressors may not be triggers for everyone, yet some students may react to them so strongly that their ability to think logically and continue with the learning process is minimized. Every person is unique and comes wired to react to an individual set of potential stressors. Unfortunately, many traditional classrooms still maintain environments and routines that often produce stress for many students during the learning process. If our goal is to help students be as prepared as possible for any assessment, teachers need to address these basic stressors. The following sections provide brief looks at the six potential stressor categories to help teachers identify situations in their classroom that may cause problems for some students. Each section includes suggestions for ways to modify and reduce the perceived threats. These brain-friendly prevention strategies will be particularly important when administering tests.
Physical Environment The following sections show that where learning and testing take place can make a difference. Students’ brains and bodies are sensitive to the physical aspects of the learning environment. When conditions are uncomfortable, unhealthy, and distracting and students don’t feel safe, their brains are not able to attend and engage as easily. Perceived threats in the classroom keep students from being able to fully concentrate. The following sections will discuss aspects of the physical environment that may trigger stress for students: (1) building condition; (2) school appearance and aesthetics; (3) excess mess; (4) indoor environmental quality; and (5) school dangers, drills, and lockdowns. I will also offer body- and brain-friendly strategies to create healthy environments.
Building Condition Poor classroom and school-building conditions can cause student stress responses. According to Debbie Alexander and Laurie Lewis (2014) of Westat, more than half of
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6. Challenging academics
