Color contribution to children's wayfinding in school environments

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to explore the contribution of color to children’s wayfinding ability in school environments and to examine the differences between different colors in terms of their remembrance and usability in route learning process. The experiment was conducted with three different sample groups for the three different experiment sets that were differentiated by their color arrangement. The participants were a total of 100 primary school children aged 7-8 years-old. The study was conducted in five phases. Firstly, participants were tested for color vision deficiencies and familiarity with the experiment site. Secondly, they were escorted on the experiment route by the tester one by one, from starting point to the end point and were asked to lead the tester to the end point by the same route. Thirdly, they were asked to verbally describe the route. Fourthly, they were asked to recognize the specific colors at their specific locations. Finally, they were asked to direct the location of the end point with their finger. It was found that color has a significant effect on children’s wayfinding and pointing task performances in school environments. However, there were not any differences between different colors in terms of their remembrances in route finding task. In addition, the correct identifications of specific colors and landmarks were depending on their specific locations. Contrary to the literature, gender differences were not found in the accuracy of route learning and pointing task performances.