Studies suggest that taking care of household plants is a simple method to take care of yourself and enhance your performance in university
The beginning of the academic year often has students seeking ways to improve their study habits to the benefit of their performance relative to their previous years. Many students are researching productive note-taking methods, watching videos on active study techniques, or experimenting with various ways to stay organized.
What you might not have expected is that investing in houseplants for study spaces can be a great way for students to become the best they can be academically.
The benefits of caring for houseplants within a study space are vast. Ke-Tsung Han, a member of the department of landscape architecture at the National Chin-Yi University of Technology, published several articles researching the benefits of the presence of plants on humans' well-being and cognitive function.
According to their research study on the benefit of plants, houseplants improve emotional states, health and reduce mental fatigue. The study also showed higher test scores for students that had many houseplants within their study space.
The benefits of houseplants are also connected with improving psychological and physiological health, contributing to enhanced academic ability.
Having and taking care of houseplants have also been shown to improve mental and physical health, contributing to enhanced academic ability.
For example, Neil A. Bradbur uncovered that an increased capacity to pay attention allows students to study attentively for longer before losing focus. A longer attention span also helps students obtain more information and complete tasks efficiently because they can focus on the goal for an extended period.
Furthermore, by preventing mental fatigue, plants can help combat burnout, a phenomenon most students experience during the school year.
Within elementary classrooms, a study conducted by Ruth K. Raanaas and her research group, discovered that plants within a study space increase attention capacity, decreasing the consequential fatigue that follows tedious and demanding work.
Another study concluded that regular interaction with houseplants reduces stress. In addition, it was stated that houseplants suppress diastolic blood pressure and activity of the sympathetic nervous system resulting in feelings of calmness and of being in control.
Although there are numerous scientific papers published on the vast benefits of having and caring for houseplants, many individuals may still be skeptical. While houseplants can't spontaneously make you do better on a test, they improve your mental state of being to improve your ability to focus and learn. So, when someone tries to criticize the number of plants you have in your study space, tell them that becoming a plant person transformed your academic abilities for the better!
At McMaster, there are many opportunities for students to purchase plants through the pop-up booths at MUSC. For example, I bought an aloe vera plant for my desk due to its ability to encourage a sense of optimism.
I don't have a green thumb, and as a busy university student it makes me the worst plant mom ever. However, if you're starting out and are looking for some easy to care for plants, I have suggestions that may be worthwhile!
Succulents are amazing because they're tough to kill. They don't require much water to survive, and they help to reduce stress. I also would recommend buying an aloe vera plant because they're resilient to their environment. Lastly, snake plants are another great addition to your study space. They're low maintenance and they have been shown to boost productivity and concentration.
Considering the evidence, it may be beneficial to incorporate some greenery into your study space to improve your state of being and in turn boost to your academic abilities. Having this study technique in your back pocket may be just what you need to achieve that 12.
For students worrying about one 50 per cent weighted exam determining whether they pass or fail, there may be help coming in the future. The McMaster Students Union university affairs committee has begun their advocacy efforts to push to eliminate “high-risk” exams worth 50 per cent or more of a student’s grade.
This goal was outlined in the 2017-2018 MSU academic success policy paper but has been actively taken up this year by the University Affairs committee, headed by associate vice president (University Affairs) Tasneem Warwani. It is part of a broader initiative to review “academic services.”
As it stands, there is no official McMaster policy capping the weight of an exam. The committee is concerned that heavily-weighted assessments can be increasingly stressful for students and do not set students up for success.
“You can do phenomenally throughout the semester and then you can have something happen,” Warwani said. “If you do so well throughout the semester and then you are writing a 70 per cent exam and you just crash and burn during the exam, it does not make sense that you should fail entirely based on that.”
The Student Representative Assembly engineering caucus is also working to eliminate high-risk exams for engineering students. However, the university affairs committee is aiming for a university-wide policy.
High-risk exams sometimes occur when students use their McMaster Student Absence Form for an assignment or midterm, and the re-weighting makes the final exam “high-risk.” Under the accommodation section, the McMaster Undergraduate Course Management Policies recommends that an instructor should seek approval before re-weighting one assessment to 75 per cent or more.
The University Affairs committee ultimately wants to see a hard cap at 50 per cent, even in MSAF cases. Warwani suggested other alternatives to shifting weight to a final exam, such as rewriting an evaluation, should be more standardized.
Warwani acknowledges that professors often have legitimate reasons for being reluctant to reschedule missed tests.
“There are lots of things that might be a little bit more difficult to do but if it means that our students are succeeding from it, then I think that we should be moving towards those,” Warwani said. “I am hopeful that we can find some sort of middle ground.”
Warwani said that one situation where a high-risk exam could be acceptable is in a structure with different weighing options where the professor weighs exams more heavily only if it results in a higher grade for a student.
The university affairs committee also aims to work towards having more specific standardized MSAF policies on course outlines. Warwani believes that if the outlines are clearer on how and when accommodations will be provided in the case of MSAFs, students and professors will be better off, and students will not be uncertain about whether an MSAF now will mean writing a high-risk exam later.
Currently, the committee is still researching the issue to determine which faculties are most affected and to what extent. They plan to release an online “info pack” document on the issue for students in the next couple of months. From there, they will begin formally consulting with university administration and faculty coordinators to move from advocacy to potential policy.
For any sort of policy to be considered, the issue must be discussed first in the university senate. The process of advocating for the elimination of high-risk exams is a big project for the committee and has only just begun.
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