* Some learn best with sounds.

* Others study well under dim light.

* Some like to learn in a cool environment.

* Other learn best when they study in an informal set-up.

Unfortunately, these environmental alternatives - which I think of as basic saute ingredients - may not always be available in most home environments because of limited resources and the erroneous presumptions of parents with regard to the environmental preferences of their children. But just as an exotic ingredient in a recipe may be substituted with a local one, a learning atmosphere that at least considers environmental factors conducive to learning could still be created.

Concentration is the first phase of the learning process. The ability to concentrate leads to understanding and facilitates recall of new and difficult information. Once you have added the environmental ingredients needed to facilitate concentration, you are on your way to enhancing optimal learning.

Does your child prefer to learn with or without background music?

Sound is an element in the home environment misconstrued by many of us parents as noise.

And yet, many adolescents think and remember best when studying with music. Your daughter may work quietly at the kitchen table with earphones plugged onto her MP3 player, or your son may work out a math problem at the living room sofa with the radio blaring out rock music.

Studies have also shown remarkable changes in the learning capacity of children who are exposed to classical music. Classical music is recommended because it is considered to be generally culture – fair and value – free.

Related studies also revealed that the introduction of music to home studies produces significant improvement in a child’s performance in math, reading and the sciences.

Benefits included: stress reduction and relaxation, thereby fostering creativity through brain wave activation; stimulation of imagination and thinking; reduction in the number of disciplinary problems; and increased ability to focus and align as a group.

Does your child prefer to learn under bright or dim light?

Think of light as an onion bulb. The amount of onions you add to a dish will affect its overall taste and aroma.

Light can affect the alertness and mood of a person because it affects the brain’s production of melatonin, a sleep inducer. If only a low degree of alertness is needed, then brightness is not important. Similarly, too much exposure to bright sunlight can also make you drowsy.

Environmental lighting exerts profound biological effects on humans. We have always been told that children will damage their eyes when they read in dim light. Yet some children perform significantly better in a dimly illuminated environment when studying, concentrating, or learning. Very often, bright light makes younger children restless, fidgety and hyperactive.

Sometimes a study lamp will encourage better study habits than a fluorescent flooded room.

Does your child prefer to study in a warm or cool room temperature?

Tomatoes, long-believed to be an aphrodisiac, need warmth, not light, to ripen. However, its red color won’t form when temperatures are above 86 degree F.

Brain researchers say that the cooler your brain is, the more relaxed you are; the warmer your brain is, the more aroused you are.

On another dimension, they say that if we are too warm or too cold, it is difficult to think. But perception of temperature is relative: what is too warm or too cold for one may be just right for another.

What constitutes the right temperature in your children’s learning environment will vary per child. One may want to read outdoors in the warmth of the sun. While another may opt to stay indoors on a hot day with the electric fan or airconditioner on full blast. The bottom line is that there should be consideration for different preferences across ages and genders.